It’s Worth It!

Philippians 1:27-30

27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves 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 the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel 28without 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. 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, 30since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Dear Friends in Christ,

I’d like to begin my sermon this morning with a little bit of trivia about the Bible that I’ve received in several emails over the years and that I think you’ll find interesting.  Whether it’s true or not, I can’t say for sure because as most of you know, you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.  But according to this, the middle chapter of the Bible is Ps. 118.  Now of course before Ps. 118 you’ll find Ps. 117, which is the shortest chapter of the Bible, consisting of only 2 verses.  And following Ps. 118 you’ll find Ps. 119, which is the longest chapter of the Bible.  If you add up all the chapters of the Bible excluding Ps. 118 you’ll come up with 1188 chapters.  And if you take those numbers 1-1-8-8, they can help you remember the middle verse of the Bible, which is Ps. 118:8.  And do you know what that central verse of Scripture says?  It says, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”  Now how cool is that? By the way, that knowledge about the middle verse of the Bible just might come in handy for you someday if you’re ever playing Bible Trivia because I understand that it is one of the questions you’ll find in that game.

But I’ve got another bit of Bible trivia for you this morning.  Which epistle in the New Testament has the word “Gospel” in it more than all the others?  Believe it or not, it’s none other than the one that I’m preaching on right now, Paul’s epistle of joy to the Philippians.  The Gospel is the recurring theme throughout this book.  Let me give you a few examples.  In chapter 1:5 Paul rejoices in the Philippians’ partnership with him in the Gospel.  In chapter 1:7 he says he is in chains because of the Gospel.  In chapter 1:12 he says that what has happened to him in prison has served to advance the Gospel.  In chapter 1:16 he says that he is in prison to defend the Gospel.  In chapter 1:27 he encourages the Philippians to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel.  And on and on it goes.

Nothing mattered more to Paul than the Gospel, which is in its purest and simplest form the good news of our salvation, the story of Jesus, the account of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  Why was that so important to Paul?  Well, in Rom. 1:16 he answers that question when he says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”  Paul therefore recognized the supreme privilege that was his of being entrusted with this powerful, life-giving, soul-saving message.

And what about us, my friends?  Do we recognize that same privilege?  Do we understand that in the Gospel we have been given medicine for the sick, food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, and directions for the lost?  A pastor by the name of Russ Blowers understood that.  Though he is now deceased, at one time he was a minister in Indianapolis who was invited to speak at a Rotary Club meeting and when the time came for him to introduce himself, he wanted to do it in a unique way, a way that would make an impact on his listeners, so this is what he came up with.

He said, “Hi, I’m Russ Blowers.  I’m with a global enterprise.  We have branches in every country in the world.  We have representatives in nearly every parliament and boardroom on earth.  We’re into motivation and behavior alteration.  We run hospitals, feeding stations, crisis pregnancy centers, publishing houses, and nursing homes.  We care for our clients from birth to death.  We’re into life insurance and fire insurance.  We perform spiritual heart transplants.  Our original organizer owns all the real estate on earth, plus an assortment of galaxies and constellations.  He knows everything and lives everywhere.  Our product is free for the taking; there’s not enough money to buy it.  Our CEO was born in a hick town, worked as a carpenter, didn’t own a home, was misunderstood by his family and hated by his enemies, walked on water, was condemned to death without a fair trial, rose from the dead, and I talk to him everyday.”

That’s the kind of organization we are privileged to be a part of. But here we need to understand that with that privilege comes responsibility.  And those responsibilities are spelled out for us in our text for today and can be summarized in 3 words: integrity, teamwork, and steadfastness.

Let’s take a look at each one of those now starting with integrity.  While I was working on this sermon I came across some interesting tidbits of information about the Pony Express and one of those things was that any candidate for the Pony Express had to sign the following oath: “I do hereby swear by the great and living God that during my engagement and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Widell, owners of the Pony Express, that I will under no circumstances use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquor, that I will not quarrel or fight with any employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts to win the confidence of my employees.  So help me God.”  Now that’s what you call integrity!

The owners of the Pony Express understood something very important, namely, that the message is only as reliable as the messenger.  Paul understood this, too, long before they did.  For this reason he makes an appeal to integrity in v. 27 of our text when he says, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves 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.”

Basically, what Paul is telling the Philippians there is, “Act the same whether I’m with you in person in Philippi or remain in prison here in Rome.  Don’t let my presence or absence determine how you act.”  How many of you have noticed that some people have a tendency to act one way around certain people and another way around others?  This is something that I’ve definitely encountered as a pastor.  Once in a while I’ll meet somebody who doesn’t know who I am or what I do for a living.  And that person may use some pretty salty language in our conversation.  But when they discover that I’m a pastor, they get all red-faced and embarrassed and completely change how they talk and act.  Why is that?  That’s not real integrity, is it?  Somebody once defined integrity as what you do when you don’t think anyone else is watching.  Integrity is what you do when your parents aren’t home or your husband is away on a trip or the teacher is out of the classroom or you’re in a motel room on a business trip all alone with that TV that could very easily keep you entertained with pornographic movies all night long.

Why is it so important to be people of integrity?  Because whether we realize it or not, people are watching us, especially if they know we’re Christians.  And whether it’s right or wrong on their part, they often times judge the Christian faith and the credibility and validity of the Gospel on the basis of those who live it or fail to live it.  So strive with the help of the Holy Spirit to be the man, the woman, the teenager, the child of integrity that God calls you to be.

Then a 2nd responsibility that comes with the privilege of being entrusted with the Gospel isteamwork.  Paul says in v. 27 of our text that we are to “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”  Remember the Pony Express I mentioned before?  Well, teamwork is what made that experiment in mail delivery so successful – 190 stations set up between Sacramento, CA and St. Joseph, MO; 1946 miles; each rider assigned 80 miles.  That was his job 6 days a week.  And when each rider did his job and they worked together as a team, the message got delivered.

The same thing happens when the people of God work together and sometimes the results are absolutely amazing.  Take the story of Cass, for example.  When she was in middle school, she was the ideal child.  But eventually she fell into the wrong group.  Her attitude changed.  She began to experiment with drugs and even satanic worship.  But the way God got the Gospel to Cass’s heart is a testimony, a case study if you will of how God uses different people to reach one person.  For example, he used the courage of Cass’s father to get her out of that destructive setting in that public school and enrolled in a private Christian school.  He used a local youth minister to invite and encourage Cass to come to their youth events and Bible studies.  He used teachers, neighbors, old friends who had become Christians to ever-so-slightly chisel away at her hard and resistant heart.  But it finally fell to Jamie to deliver the message to Cass’s heart.  She invited Cass to go on a youth retreat with her church.  Everyone was stunned when she agreed to go, but they were even more stunned when she returned completely changed – a new person in Christ.

Now you’re probably wondering exactly who Cass is, but before I tell you, let me ask you:  do you see the relay system in this story?  Do you see the Pony Express of the Gospel, the teamwork that it took to finally reach Cass?  Each person in the delivery system was essential.  And so it is with us.  When each of us does his or her part, whether it’s visiting a person in the hospital or praying for them or baking a pie for them or inviting them to church or actually delivering the good news of the Gospel to the doorstep of their heart, as Jamie did with Cass, we are all essential.  I Cor. 3:8 puts it this way, “The one who plants and the one who waters work as a team with the same purpose.”

So where there is integrity, the Gospel is believed and trusted.  Where there is teamwork, the Gospel is transmitted.  And finally, where there is steadfastness, the Gospel is triumphant.  Let’s get back to the story of Cass because after she came to know Jesus as her personal Savior, she became very steadfast in her faith.  She began to read her Bible.  She made new friends.  She even asked her dad if she could be transferred back into the public school so she could be a witness for Christ there.  It was a request her father granted, having no idea how quickly and dramatically that desire of Cass’s would be fulfilled.

For you see, on April 20, 1999, 2 years after her conversion to Christianity, Cass – Cassie Bernall – was in the library of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado when shots rang out in the hallway and 2 armed teenagers burst into the library.  Most assume that Cassie was praying when the predators found her.  Why else would they have singled her out and asked her the question they did with the cold muzzle of the gun pointed at her skull?  They said, “Do you believe in God?”  Her one word response, “Yes,” would be the last word she would speak this side of heaven.

For Cassie Bernall, this young, on-fire-for-Christ, 16 year old girl, the Gospel was worth it.  It was worth it.  May I ask you, my friends, what’s the Gospel worth to you?  Is it worth your integrity, leading a life where the message matches up with you, the messenger?  Is it worth our teamwork, each of us doing our part in that relay system so that somebody we know or that we may never even see this side of heaven will hear that Gospel and be saved?  Is it worth our steadfastness, our determination to say yes to Jesus, not just in the heat of battle as Cassie Bernall did, but how about in the heat of temptation, or the heat of anger, or the heat of gossip, or the heat of bumper to bumper traffic?

I’m sure as we all analyze our lives, we have to admit that we have often failed, and failed miserably, to carry out these responsibilities that go along with being entrusted with the Gospel.  I know I have.  But rather than beating ourselves up with guilt, let’s remember, that’s why Jesus came.  To die for all our failures and shortcomings so that we can have another chance, a new beginning, and through the power of his Holy Spirit carry out those responsibilities more faithfully than ever before.  Would you bow your heads for a moment and join with me in a prayer of confession as we ask our Lord for strength to better handle the responsibilities we’ve looked at this morning?

Father, I come to you now in the name of Christ and I ask you to 1st of all please forgive me for the times I have failed you.  You know my every thought and you know what an unworthy vessel I am of this priceless Gospel message.  And yet you even let me stand in front of people and carry the name of not just Christian, but Christian minister.  May I be more worthy, O Lord, of the privilege you have granted to me.  And may our church be more worthy too.  May we be a community of reliable, honest, God-fearing, grace-receiving, Gospel-proclaiming, heaven-anticipating people.  May we work together as a team and be steadfast in our faith unto the end.  Lord, we confess we need your help and we thank you for being so quick to give it.  In Jesus’ name.

Amen