“Royal Children, Royal Manners” Philippians 1:27-30 September 26, 2010

SI: We’re studying Paul’s letter to his favorite church—the Philippian church.

Our reading today, marks a new section the letter.

Up to this point Paul has basically been catching up with them.

It’s been homey and comfortable.

He’s told this church he loves about his situation, his imprisonment,

and for them not to worry about him, because he’s at peace,

and the Gospel is being advanced in spite of his chains.

But in verse 27 he switches gears and begins to exhort them.

He starts to tell them the things he wants them to know and do.

And he starts by saying, “Whatever happens.”

That’s the way the NIV translates a single Greek word. Word is “monos.”

“Monos” has the sense of only, mainly, the main thing, the one thing,

no matter what, let me get right to the point.

It’s hard to capture in English.

But Paul is signaling with this word—

The next thing I am going to say is the main point of this letter.

If you don’t get anything else from it, get this.

What is it? What’s so important to Paul? Let’s see.

INTRO: A chaplain to the British royal family was leaving Buckingham

Palace one afternoon. And as he was walking across the courtyard,

a door opened and out came the Queen Mother with her daughters—

the two little princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

They were on their way to a party and a car and driver was waiting to take them.

As the chaplain walked closer, he saw the Queen Mother lean forward

as if to give her little girls some final instructions.

And just before the car door was closed, he heard the Queen say to them:

“Royal children, royal manners.”

You understand, of course, what she meant by those words.

She was saying: Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of your title and position.

You girls are royal children. That’s who you are. That’s your identity.

Now, at this party, you must display royal manners.

You must be the most gracious, the most polite of all of the girls at the party.

You will not be pulled into petty disputes. Answer everyone kindly.

Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of your title and position.

Royal children, royal manners.

Paul says something similar to the Philippian Christians.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

Now that tells us something tremendously important.

It tells us that the Gospel is not just for getting saved.

That’s what a lot of Christians think. The Gospel is just a message for salvation.

It’s just a message to unbelievers, for them to believe and get into kingdom.

And once you believe the Gospel and get in, then you move on to other things.

But Paul says, You never move on from the Gospel.

The Gospel is the one great rule of the Christian life.

It’s not just the way you get into the Kingdom—

it’s the way you live and make progress in the Kingdom.

I love the way Jack Miller presented the Gospel.

Tim Keller was a student of Jack Miller’s at Westminster Seminary.

And I’ve gotten this from Tim Keller and shared it with you many times.

“The Gospel is that I am more wicked and sinful than I ever dared to admit. And at

the same time, I am more loved and accepted in Christ than I ever dared to hope.”

That’s the Gospel. It starts with my utter sinfulness.

Lots of people like to say:

“I may have done some bad things, but deep down I’m a good person.”

The Gospel says, All your righteousness acts like filthy rags.

It says there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

You are by nature dead in sin, an object of wrath.

The Gospel starts by knocking out every single prop of self-righteousness and pride.

It forces you see you are more sinful and wicked than you ever dared to admit.

It makes you honest with yourself for the very first time in your life.

It reveals with piercing clarity that God owes you nothing but judgment.

And then, it lifts you up to heaven. The Gospel points you to Jesus Christ.

Here is the perfect man. Here is the man who loved God with all his heart.

Here’s the man who was obedient unto death, even the death on a cross.

The perfect Son of God, given by a loving God, to be your substitute.

That means when you trust him, his life becomes your life and his death your death.

So when God the Father looks at you he doesn’t see your sin and sinfulness—

he sees you clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

You are completely loved and accepted in him.

Now, Paul says to the Philippians:

The Gospel must become the defining principle of your life,

and the pattern for your daily living.

You must live your life in the daily reality of your forgiven sin

and the finished work of Christ on your behalf.

You must live as one who knows he is a great sinner and greatly loved.

Do you do that? Let’s see how.

Three ways you live a life worthy of the Gospel.

I’ll give them to you as we go.

MP#1 You must contend for the faith of the Gospel.

Paul says that he hopes he can come and see them one day,

but even if he can’t he hopes that he hears that they are

“contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel.”

That’s a peculiar phrase, “the faith of the Gospel.” What does it mean?

Whenever the New Testament uses the phrase “the faith” it means doctrine.

To be true to the faith, contend for the faith, means to hold to and defend

the doctrines of New Testament Christianity.

So when Paul says: Contend for the faith of the Gospel, he’s affirming

that there is doctrinal content to the Gospel. There is a logic to it.

And if you are going to live a life worthy of the Gospel,

you must know it and hold to it and defend it.

So what exactly is the faith of the Gospel?

What is the Gospel doctrine that we contend for?

It’s this: We are saved by grace alone through faith in Christ alone.

It’s all Jesus. It’s all God’s grace.

Our standing with God does not rest on our merits, not even a little bit,

but on the life and death of Christ alone. And that’s where we contend.

There is no way to be a little off when it comes to the Gospel.

It’s either all Jesus and all God’s grace, or it’s not

If someone says that even a tiny part of our standing with God is determined

by our merits, then you don’t have salvation by grace.

You know what you have instead?

You have a self-help program for getting right and staying right with God.

If anything comes between Christ and believer—then you don’t have the Gospel.

What does the word “Gospel” mean? It means good news.

Any program for getting right with God is not good news.

It’s not good news to be told: This is what you have to do.

The good news is: This is what God has done for you in Christ.

If you love God enough, then he will love you back. That’s not good news.

God loved you first, and because he loves you, you are enabled to love him.

That’s good news!

If you’re a good person, then God will accept you and bless you.

That’s not good news. It puts you on performance treadmill with God.

The good news is that you are able to be a good person

because you are already accepted by God. Strive to be good out of gratitude.

You have to repent or God will reject you and you’ll fall from grace.

That’s not good news. It motivates by pure fear.

The good news is that you have to repent because God won’t reject you,

and you can’t fall from grace. You have to repent because how can

you grieve the person who at infinite cost saved you from your sins?

Jesus Christ alone. His perfect life alone, credited to us by faith.

His shameful death alone the payment for our sins, received by faith.

No additions. No programs. No merit of our own.

That’s good news. And that’s what Paul says we are to contend for.

A number of years ago a preacher friend of mine was on his way to Birmingham

and he swung by our house to say hi. We were standing in the driveway talking

when one of my neighbors walked over—a young man with drug problems.

I introduced them and asked: John, how are you doing?

He said: I tell you what. I must be living right, because all sorts of good things

are happening to me. I must be right with God because he sure is blessing me.

And I said: Well, that’s great, John. And he walked away.

Then my preacher friend turned to me and said: I can’t believe you just did that.

I can’t believe you didn’t challenge his works righteousness and point to Christ.

I said: Well, why didn’t you say something? He said: He’s your neighbor!

That stung, because he was right.

From that point on I didn’t let any of those statements go unchallenged.

Took every opportunity to point him to God’s grace.

Interesting follow-up story. When David Edwards was a member of our church,

before he and Debbie moved away, he found out that I knew this neighbor.

Told me they had taken drugs together in high school, and he hadn’t seen him since.

David insisted that the three of us have lunch together.

Still remember what David told him.

The reason we parted ways, is because I got off drugs after high school and never

went back to them. But what I want you to know is that getting off drugs did not

make me right with God. If I had died then, I would have gone to hell.

I’m not here to tell you to get off drugs, I’m here to tell you to trust Christ.

His Gospel logic was airtight. Grace alone. Christ alone. Faith alone.

Are you contending for the faith of the Gospel?

When you hear the doctrine of grace and the righteousness of Christ contradicted

by the everyday, self-righteous, self-salvation programs that people espouse—

do you, with all gentleness say: Let me tell you about Jesus and grace?

You must. That’s a life worthy of the Gospel. The life Christ calls you to lead.

Brings us to the second point.

MP#2 You must work out the implications of the Gospel.

As I said a moment ago, the Gospel is not just for getting saved—

it’s for living the Christian life every step of the way.

That means you spend a lifetime working out the implications of the Gospel.

Figuring out what it means to live completely by the grace of God

and the finished work of Christ. Asking yourself what difference Gospel makes.

Tim Keller: “All our problems come from a lack of orientation to the Gospel. Put positively, the Gospel transforms our hearts, our thinking, and our approach to absolutely everything.”

Here Paul applies the Gospel to the most perplexing thing in life—suffering.

After calling them to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel he says:

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ,

not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.

How does the Gospel change the way we respond to suffering?

Most people respond to suffering with anger or despondency.

Some people get angry when they suffer, and over time, become bitter.

They are angry because they think they aren’t getting the life they deserve.

God, I don’t deserve this suffering. I deserve a better life.

I’ve done my best to live according to your standards and now you owe me.

Some people don’t get angry, they become despondent.

All the negativity is focused on themselves. And why is that?

Because they think the reason they are suffering is because they’ve failed.

I’m suffering because I haven’t lived up to God’s rules.

If only I had, then God would have given me a better life.

So some people are mad at God when they suffer,

because they’ve lived right and God hasn’t given them what they want.

And other people are mad at themselves,

because they’ve failed and they are getting what they deserve.

There’s no grace in either response. It’s all up to me.

The Gospel gives you a totally different way of thinking.

The Gospel humbles you out of being angry at God.

Jesus was the best person who ever lived, but he suffered terribly..

That demolishes the idea that good people automatically get good lives.

The Gospel also affirms you out of your despondency over your failures.

Jesus suffered for you while you were a sinner.

And that punishment was so great that it made the holy Son of God

sweat drops of blood in the Garden and cry in agony on the cross.

So your suffering cannot be tit for tat punishment for your sins.

Paul says that suffering is a sign to some that they will be destroyed,

but to you, to you who trust Christ, suffering is a sign you will be saved.

Apart from God’s grace, suffering is just an appetizer for hell—

the anger and bitterness and despondency will consume you apart from God.

But in Christ, suffering is redemptive. It’s a sign of your salvation.

You know it’s a sign of your salvation because it drives you to Christ,

it makes you long for him and his deliverance.

When you start to realize that, then it humbles and strengthens you.

I want to be very gentle here, because I know some of you are suffering.

When suffering goes on for a long time, can be worn down in body and emotions.

But the Lord knows that. He knows the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

As the Psalmist says, He knows how we are formed, remembers we are dust.

Even when you respond in weakness, that doesn’t change his grace.

Hold on to the Gospel. Work it out in every area. We’ve mentioned suffering. What about criticism?

Does your self-image and sense of personal worth rise and fall based on the words

and judgments of the people who matter? Work out the Gospel.

You have the righteousness of Christ. When God looks at you, he sees his Son.

That makes you bold and humble, enables you to handle criticism.

What about your home?

Parents, how do you motivate your children? Do you use fear, guilt or shame?

Or do you motivate them by grace and the Gospel?

That might control their behavior, but you are teaching your children

to trust in their works to earn approval, forgiveness and reward.

You must guide their feet to walk in line with the Gospel.

The Gospel changes everything. A life worthy of the Gospel is a life

that thinks through the implications of grace, and seeks to live it out in every area.

But where do you get the strength to do that? Brings us to the last point.

MP#3 You must be crushed by the glory of the Gospel.

I want to take us back to Paul’s first words.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

Paul uses this way of speaking frequently in his letters.

Ephesians 4: “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”

Colossians 1: “We pray that you might live a life worthy of the Lord.”

1 Thess 2: “We urge you to live lives worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom.

Worthy of the Gospel, worthy of your calling worthy of the Lord, worthy of God.

What does Paul mean by worthy? What is conduct in a manner worthy?

By worthy Paul means befitting the Gospel. Becoming of the Gospel.

A manner, a way of life, equal to the glory of the grace of God in Christ.

Think of a scale or a balance. Here on one side is the grace of God in Christ.

And eternal love of God and the suffering and death of Jesus Christ—

Grace freely given through the blood of the perfect Lamb of God.

And here on the other side of that balance is the conduct of your life.

And when you think of that, what happens? The weight of glory crushes you.

And you cry out, Why me? Why did God save me?

Appreciation is such a wimpy word.

It’s a wonder and gratitude that is almost painful.

It’s like Isaiah crying out Woe is me, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips.

And then the angel taking a glowing coal from the altar and purifying his lips.

You see Paul often doing this in his letters.

I am the chief of sinners, but I am the one for whom Christ died.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.

Let the weight of that, the awful cost God paid for you and me,

let that glory of grace crush you and fill you with gratitude and worship—

and that alone will empower you to live a life worthy.

There was a movie that came out about 10 years ago—Saving Private Ryan.

Maybe you remember it. There is a family named Ryan with four sons.

The father is dead and all four boys go off to fight in WWII, leaving mother alone.

War Department discovers three of four have been killed in action.

So they send a Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks to find the last

surviving son and bring him home, so his mother will have one child left.

So Captain Miller puts together a unit of volunteers and they go off to search

for Private Ryan. As they cross the battlefields, going from unit to unit,

they engage in several battles with the Germans. Have to fight way to him.

When they find Ryan, he refuses to leave his unit till reinforcements arrive.

But before that happens, they are attacked by a huge enemy force.

There is a fierce battle, the Americans win, but with terrible casualties.

As the movie ends, Captain Miller is sitting on the ground, propped against a jeep,

dying of the wounds he sustained trying to protect Ryan.

And with his dying breath he pulls the young private close and whispers:

“Earn it! Earn it!” In other words. Good men have died for you.

Live in life worthy of their sacrifice.

At that point, the movie flashes forward 50 years, and Private Ryan, now an elderly

man is touring a military cemetery in France with his wife and grown children. He wanders to the graveyard till he finds the grave of Captain Miller—

and then he falls on his knees weeping. His wife rushes over, with tears he says:

“Tell me I’ve lived a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.”

And you see how this knowledge that brave men died so he could live

has shaped the whole tenor of his life.

Someone has died on your behalf. And this Someone was not just a good man—

He was the Perfect Man. Because he was God’s own Son.

And he earned forgiveness and eternal life for you through his obedience.

And he died for you when you were an enemy.

You can never do enough to deserve Christ’s death.

You can never earn God’s approval. It’s been earned for you at great cost.

You can never, pay him back for his incredible sacrifice of love.

But you can try. You can cultivate gratitude and wonder in your heart.

You can ponder the greatness of God’s grace and the death of Jesus,

and your great sinfulness. You can sing of it on the Lord’s day.

You can meditate on your favorite Bible verses.

And you can try with all your might to make everything in your life—

every thought, every motive, every affection, every action—

you money, your marriage, your time, your plans—

worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

And the day will come for you when this life draws to a close,

and you will stand, not at a grave, but in the presence of your living Savior—

and you will fall on your knees weeping with joy and gratitude and unworthiness.

And like Christ once did to the Apostle John.

He will touch you with his right hand, and raise you up—

and say, Well done, good and faithful servant, welcome to my Father’s kingdom.

Why good and faithful?

Because God takes a little for a lot.

And when Christians walk with him in obedience—imperfect as our obedience is.

And when we keep his commandments, and serve him and aspire to do his will.

And when we love holiness and hate sin, and try hard to follow Christ’s steps.

And when we mourn our failures and try to do better because we love the Lord—

then, we are walking worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Whatever happens, live a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Contend for the faith of the Gospel.

Make sure the message of grace alone is often on your lips.

Work out the implications of the Gospel.

Bring God’s grace and Christ’s righteousness to bear on your suffering,

and on every other part of your life. Watch others do it, and help them.

Be crushed by the glory of the Gospel.

Become a worshipper of Jesus Christ.

Be amazed at his grace—and let that alone motivate you in all you do.