A Life Worthy of the Gospel of Christ

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, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. -Philippians 1:27, 28

The challenge given in God’s Word is to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  Let’s be careful not to squander the fortune of grace that has been poured out upon us.  I read once about a young man who came from an extremely wealthy family, and the tradition of this family was that everyone born into the family was given a great sum of money on their twenty-first birthday.  The idea was that they could then put the money to work to add to the family fortune.  The young man received his inheritance and unfortunately squandered it.  He did not put the fortune he had inherited to good use.  The challenge given to us in God’s Word is to put what we have been given to good use.  We begin by living lives worthy of the Lord Jesus.  Now, what does that mean in practical terms?

Embracing the Spirit while rejecting the flesh.  The follower of Christ must be committed to embracing the Spirit and rejecting the flesh.  People have some wrong ideas as to what the Christian life is all about.  They mistakenly think that following Jesus involves some sort of legalistic, solitary, stone-faced, almost monastic existence where we never laugh and never do anything that appears to be enjoyable.  Isn’t that ridiculous?  Embracing the Spirit means a shunning of the ungodly attitudes and practices of those who have rejected the Lord.  We rid ourselves of evil, hatred, envy, strife, jealousy, lust, and ungodliness (See Galatians 5:19-23).  At the same time we seek to take on the attitudes of the Lord Jesus.  We love, forgive, witness, serve, and reach out to a lost and dying world.  In Jesus the mind is transformed from carnal to spiritual.  Only Christ Jesus can do that in us; we cannot accomplish that on our own.

Heeding God’s Word and putting it into practice.  It’s one thing to read God's Word, but we must then heed it – do what it says.  Recall what James 1:22 says about being doers of the Word and not hearers only.  If we are simply hearers then we deceive ourselves. When we begin to examine the teachings of the Lord Jesus we find that we are to love God and love one another in a sacrificial sort of way.  Let’s not just hear the Word, but let’s put it into practice by doing what it says.  

Standing firm and refusing to back down.  When we are serious about following Jesus we make that commitment to serve Him with such integrity that we will never, for any reason allow ourselves to be compromised.   

We are called by the Lord to stay faithful, stay in the Word, pray without ceasing, and walk humbly before God, as the Scripture teaches.  Even the most troubled soul can, by the power of God, rise up and and begin living a life worthy of Christ.  Therein is life, joy, peace, and spiritual victory.