|
Paul’s
letter to the Philippians is a rich book filled with wonderful
treasures on which to meditate, but as I was reading through
it this morning, my thoughts kept coming back to one
particular verse that says, “Only conduct yourselves in a
manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil 1.27). Thinking
about this, I wondered, “How does one do that?” How can we
ever conduct ourselves in a manner that would be worthy of the
gospel? Is it possible to be worthy of the sacrifice made by
Jesus Christ the Son of God, the one who is God in the flesh,
who lived a perfect life, and who gave all that one can give
for us? It almost seems mind-boggling. But Philippians is not
the only place that we are told to walk in a worthy manner.
Compare also Eph 4.1: “…walk worthy of the calling with
which you have been called”; Col 1.10: “walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord”; and 1 Thes 2.12: “…walk worthy of
God.” Worthy of God? Is that possible?
It’s much easier to speak of our unworthiness (Rom 3.23).
Certainly we can never merit the sacrifice that was made by
Jesus on our behalf. We can never earn our salvation, which is
by grace. No one, in fact, was ever stronger on the idea of
grace than the apostle Paul. So how then can he ask us to walk
in a manner worthy of the gospel, worthy of our calling, and
worthy of the Lord and of God? Of course, it helps greatly to
read the whole verse and paragraph in each context. For
example, in its entirety, Phil 1.27 speaks of “standing firm
in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith
of the gospel.” And Col 1.10 speaks of pleasing God, bearing
fruit, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Thus, Paul is
not talking about becoming perfect (in the sense of flawless).
Flawless perfection is not the goal. In one sense, we already
have it—by grace—for we “have become the (perfect)
righteousness of Christ” (2 Cor 5.21; cf. Phil 3.15). Too
many Christians strive for that which in one sense they
already have, and which in another sense (by our own efforts)
can never attain. Even
in Philippians Paul says that his goal is not to be found as
“having a righteousness of my own derived from law, but that
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which
comes from God on the basis of faith” (3.9). Our only
“worthiness” is by grace through faith. But that only
brings me back to my question: How then can Paul ask us to
walk in manner worthy of Christ?
Perhaps
it is simply that “worthy” is defined in this context more
by one’s progress and intention than by the idea of
perfection. That is, to conduct ourselves worthily means to do
our very best to obey God in all things, to be ever learning
and growing, to be pressing on to maturity (Phil 3.12-14). I
think that is true, but I think there is more. As I read these
admonitions to conduct ourselves in a worthy manner, I am
reminded that though we may never be perfect, we take our walk
seriously. Our lives ought to reflect the life of Jesus who
lives in us. We have a high calling, the highest there ever
was. And our speech, behavior, dress, activities, priorities,
thoughts, etc., should reflect the glory of our calling, the
glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. |
