Walk worthily Philippians 1:27

 Worthily   Philippians 1:27

Some of my favorite vs are in the Philippians letter.  1:6, "  being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" 1:21 " For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Ch 2 talks about unity through humility and being like Christ, doing things with the mind of Christ.Ch 3 is great too about our citizenship being in heaven and awaiting the Savior from heaven, Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly bodies at the Resurrection Ch 4 may be the best with not being anxious and to cast all our care upon Him and not being anxious.  But in vs 27 of ch 1 we are exhorted to " walk worthily of the gospel of Christ"

   As a noun, axiom refers to a statement that is accepted as true and serves as the basis for argument or inference. It can also mean an established rule, principle, or self-evident truth.  Walk worthily of the Gospel of Christ, v. 27

recognized as fitting (having worth that "matches" actual value(aksios)  We have heard the term knock-off. make an illegal copy of a product:

"they were knocking off fake watches for years before others got into that game"  " a copy that sells for less than the original. broadly : a copy or imitation of someone or something popular" Merriam Webster Dictionary

Ephesians 4:1 certainly reinforces this...." I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called....with all lowliness, meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love."

In the military, and in our fellowship as well, " rank imposes obligation."  ( " With great privledge comes great responsibility+ Spider man told by his Uncle Ben)

As so many things are in the truths of the Christian life we are not worthy to even come to His Table without His love and grace.  But though we are not worthy, He asks and says we should walk worthily of the calling we have...or vocation ( which means calling)

2. As we meditate on these few vs I note that vs 29 emphasizes our belief being granted to us .  It is not something we have made or done.  He has chosen us John says in His Gospel. 15:16 " You did not chose me, but I chose you."  We would not have chosen Him. Our sinful nature does not have the ability to make that choice. 

Free will does not exist for the unbeliever---in the Scriptures. ( Original sin from Adam is at birth) The Believer has free will however in Christ to make good choices. Unbelievers are unregenerate and need the new birth. We have to be born again, or be born from above to be able to believe. 

If we had anything to say about it, we would have remained in our sin and not responded , except His grace entered our soul at the moment of conversion, and we responded in belief. 

1:29 of Philippians emphasizes this as well: For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. 

3. Suffering comes to all Christians in this life but we look forward to the life to come.John 16:33"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 

I have enjoyed reading the thoughts of Eugene Peterson, the Presbyterian pastor who said this about Churches and pastors.  We do well to lay it to heart. “The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns—how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money. Some of them are very good shopkeepers. They attract a lot of customers, pull in great sums of money, develop splendid reputations. Yet it is still shopkeeping; religious shopkeeping, to be sure, but shopkeeping all the same. The marketing strategies of the fast-food franchise occupy the waking minds of these entrepreneurs; while asleep they dream of the kind of success that will get the attention of journalists. “A walloping great congregation is fine, and fun,” says Martin Thornton, “but what most communities really need is a couple of saints. The tragedy is that they may well be there in embryo, waiting to be discovered, waiting for sound training, waiting to be emancipated from the cult of the mediocre.” 

The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.” 

-Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles

Conclusion----all of us need reminders to walk worthily : "27Only 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, 28and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but [f]to you of salvation, and that from God. 29For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me." Amen.