We ended part two after a section on honoring God, so now we look at the idea of living:
In Respect to Worldly Men
On
top of being a manner of living that honors Yahweh, it is also a way to
convince unbelievers around you. While the audience relevance scenario is
different, the exhortation from Peter is applicable as to how this works:
Keep your
conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as
evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of
visitation. (1 Pet. 2:12 ESV)
Yes,
they had there day of visitation that was approaching, but the underlying
principle is still solid – that honorable conduct and good deeds glorify Yahweh
to those around us. So it is actually a two-fold response – it glorifies God
and convicts the unbelievers around us.
Another
aspect of it - as relating to those around us - is found a few verses later,
where Peter says this action will actually silence ignorance:
For this is
the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of
foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a
cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the
brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:15 ESV)
Peter
also gives us a hint of what we spoke of from Paul earlier in our opening text.
Living as people who are free hearkens back to the living as citizen idea. Plus
he reinforces Paul’s teaching to honor others and love the members of the body
of Christ. Then later in 3:16 Peter speaks of our good behavior putting to
shame those who slander and revile.
In Respect to the Saints
On
top of glorifying Yahweh, and affecting those unbelievers around us – we now
look at how it affects our fellow saints. When fellow believers see us living a
gospel honoring lifestyle, it will warm their hearts. They see the glory it
brings to the Father, and that brings them joy.
They
will not only feel joy, but will bless God the more for it. And likewise, to
see this spirit of love working through others, it should fill us with the same
joy, seeing the good things being done in our Father’s name.
It
is also a means of adding additional encouragement to others. They see another
brother or sister practicing a righteous gospel centered life, and it gives
them great joy and encouragement to continue doing the same.
On
the other hand, seeing someone making the gospel profession yet walking
contrary to that, is disheartening, and brings shame to them and the whole body
in general.
Also,
new converts will be emboldened in their walk by seeing the gospel living of
those around them, and they will be given the encouragement to follow the
example and seek to imitate that righteousness too.
So
our gospel lifestyles – or lack thereof - can greatly affect those around us,
making it of great importance that we watch over ourselves in these areas. Let
us hold fast to truth and not be proven to be liars as we are warned in 1 John:
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we
lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:6 ESV)
Instead,
we should always seek to stand firm in that manner of living that is worthy of
the gospel:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7 ESV)
It
is the hard words found later on in this same letter that help to separate the
sheep from the goats as it were:
No one who
abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him
or known him. Whoever makes a practice
of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.
The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1
John 3:6,8 ESV)
Now,
we could go into all kinds of detail here about what it means to keep on
sinning, etc. but instead of going down that path, let’s keep it more surface
level and simply say that someone who has no desire to - or ignores all efforts to - live a disciplined, gospel honoring life may need to take a real hard look at
their spiritual life and profession in general.
It
someone would rather contradict their profession of salvation by a habitual,
public, and unapologetic manner is showing forth no evidence of being born of
God. Whereas this same section tells us:
Little
children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices
righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides
in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By
this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the
devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one
who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:7,9-10 ESV)
So,
this kind of makes the gospel lifestyle less than optional. It seems fairly
clear that if someone does not practice righteousness or does not love their
brother, they are not of God. Those are pretty strong words, and they should
hopefully wake us up to the seriousness of the situation. Of
course, this is not saying that righteous living causes us to be of God, but it is saying that those truly of God will have a heart towards this gospel
manner of living.
Those
who don’t tend to take care of themselves anyway. Like a comet, they may blaze
for a short period, but after a while of no righteous living or striving for
growth, they tend to fade away and disappear.
When
you think about it, what is the purpose of being born of God if you are just
going to stick it in your pocket and make it of no use to your life or anyone
else’s around you? Does Scripture give us any indication of a lifestyle that he
calls us to where we just accept His gift and hide it away only for ourselves?
Going
back to our original verse in Philippians:
Only let your manner of
life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or
am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one
mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel… (Phil. 1:27 ESV)
As
we said earlier, he is saying “above all else” we are to strive to live in a
manner of life worth of the gospel – it means our prayer should be that we live
and act differently than before. We should be “set apart” and noticeably so by
those around us.
Yes
we’re human – yes we’re seeds of Adam – yes we stumble – yes we sin – yes we
fall. But are we to use our human nature as an excuse to continue in sin with
never much desire to be rid of it and work hard at striving for holiness?
We
are to strive and work within ourselves to daily seek to overcome the secret
sins that are keeping us from being the men and women God wishes us to be. We
are to stay in his Word frequently to better learn and understand the nature
and ways of Yahweh, in order that we may focus our lifestyle to be more
pleasing to Him.
This
is not works based righteousness, this is works based love. If Yahweh has loved
us and brought us into his family and renewed us with truth, we should be more
than willing to love and honor Him with a lifestyle according to his mandate.
Living
in a manner worthy of the gospel means earnestly desiring the ability to pray
in good conscience something like this updated prayer borrowed again from
Jeremiah Burroughs:
Father, you know, according to what light you
have given me in the gospel, that it has been my care to look to my manner of
living.
Oh, that I might live to your honor and be a
witness to your truth; that I might hold forth your image and further your
designs, and make up the dishonor that you have from others in the world. That
I might convince wicked men and stop the mouths of those who are contrary!
Oh, that I might be a means to convert those with
whom I live, or otherwise to judge them.
Oh, that I might rejoice the hearts of
the saints, that they may lift up their heads with boldness because of me, and
that they may be established and edified.
Many
in today’s pews could not repeat this prayer in sincerity. But the question is,
do we desire to be able to do so? Are we struggling daily to make our manner of
living more like this?
Many
do not have such a concern or desire, but are just fine going to church, going
through the motions, and putting on a good front while there – only to go live
like the devil the rest of the week.
Do
we attend church services or listen to sermons with the intent of learning new
things about Yahweh and to strengthen ourselves with new ways that we can live
more unto Him? Or do we go to church because that is what is expected of us?
What
is it we are seeking most to do in this life – be pleasing and appeasing to
men, or seek to be honoring to our Father who has given us life and truth? I
once sat under a pastor who said plainly from the pulpit, “In this life, we can
never be sinless – so why try?” That is a sad and lazy excuse that allows us to
just wallow in our sin.
The
church is sadly filled with men and women just like this – whose daily lives
are a great dishonor to the Lord they profess to love and follow. Nothing
darkens the glory of the Father as much as a professor of the gospel who lives
so loosely with little concern for correction.
May
our hearts not be set in such a direction, and may God’s Words always chime in
our ears:
If we say
that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the
truth: (1 John 1:6 ESV)
Let no
corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building
up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,
along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph. 4:29, 31-32 ESV)
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and
his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:11-12 ESV)
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his
brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:20 ESV)