Philippians: Defense of the Plain Gospel

In this class we will be talking about the book of Philippians and focusing on the defense of the plain gospel. I know as I'm teaching this class that a lot of people don't like the word plain. We don't like to live in plain houses or drive plain clothes or wear plain clothes or drive plain cars unless you're a bank robber and don't want to draw attention to yourself. But when it comes to the gospel, believe me, you want it to be plain. You want to just stick with what the Bible teaches.

Nothing pleases God more than knowing that his children have not altered or changed His gospel in any way. And so that's the thrust of this course. We wanted to get back to what is the plain gospel. Are we teaching the gospel correctly? Do we understand as we're instructing others in the gospel, what we're talking about? And each of these books has had a different area of focus, and Philippians brings out the defense of the plain gospel.

When Paul was writing the letter to the Philippians, he was in jail because he had been out defending the gospel. And so he encourages us to defend the gospel.

A. Our Participation in the Gospel

1. The gospel is something we participate in continually.

³I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, ⁵in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
- Philippians 1:3-5

The word participation is the word koinonia where we get our word fellowship. We're in fellowship with the gospel. We're participating and doing this together. And we do it when? It says from the first day until now. That means every single day for the rest of our lives, hopefully, we are participating in the gospel.

And the way we do that is is not just to get up and say the word gospel every day, but to actually share the gospel, talk to others about the gospel on a daily basis. Unfortunately so many Christians only talk about the gospel on Sunday. Christianity was never intended to be a religion that was limited to a certain celebration time each week. We do celebrate our relationship with God on Sunday, but all week long we need to be living out participating in the gospel.

2. It is our duty to defend the gospel as we confirm.

⁶For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. ⁷For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
- Philippians 1:6-7

We also have a duty to defend this gospel just as Paul did. When we think about Paul, he was an apostle and a minister, that was his job. That's not why he did it. You can tell Paul defended the gospel because he believed in it.

Every Christian should have that same conviction that I need to be out defending this gospel. I need to confirm it. The word confirmation means to stabilize, to make sure nobody's trying to knock the props out from underneath the gospel or try to make subtle changes in what the gospel is and what it teaches. We confirm the gospel.

We're gonna read, in verse 16 here in a minute about how I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. This is what we do. We defend the word of God. We defend the gospel. We defend the truth, which brings us to another point.

3. We defend truth when we defend the gospel.

This sounds a lot like Ephesians 1:13, we looked at this our previous lesson, this verse talks about the truth of the gospel.

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
- Colossians 1:5

When we're defending the gospel, we are defending truth. The gospel is truth.

4. The gospel must be defended against those who preach out of envy and strife.

¹⁵Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; ¹⁶the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; ¹⁷the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
- Philippians 1:15-17

When we are defending the gospel, we are defending it against those who preach with bad motives or are preaching out of strife and causing trouble.

We show people by our own lives first that the gospel is not something that you argue about. I know people who cannot discuss the Bible without arguing. Why is that? When Philippians 2:14 says, we're not to do anything with complaining or arguing. We should not be complainers or arguers. We don't argue about the Bible. We show it. We we display it. And if somebody wants to disagree with that, well, that's fine, that's their choice, but this is what the gospel says. There's no sense in getting into a shouting match over the Bible.

Our job is to defend the gospel, but our job is not to beat people up with it. We are not trying to defend it to the sense that we are are trying to maim those who we believe are in the wrong. We present the truth. And we do this with every ounce of energy we have, but never are we to be combative or hurtful in our presentation of the gospel.

B. The Untethered Gospel

The gospel does not have chains on attached to it. Paul had chains on him as he was writing this letter, but the gospel is never chained up.

1. It is our responsibility to ensure that the gospel is progressing.

¹²Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, ¹³so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, ¹⁴and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
- Philippians 1:12-14

Paul says they've thrown him in prison and tried to stop the gospel. But what happened? It spread even further. There's nobody in the Praetorian Guard who who doesn't know Paul was preaching the gospel. He's talking to everybody and not just the Praetorian Guard, but all those around him. The gospel is untethered, you can't hold it back. You can imprison us, you can try to shut us down with laws or whatever it is but the gospel is untethered, it progresses.

2. Make it well known among those you are chained to.

What is it that you stand for? Let them know. What I mean by the word chain is the people we're constantly in contact with. Paul preached to those who he was literally chained to. He was chained to to a guard quite often, and that was a great opportunity in his mind to talk about the gospel. You have somebody that you are tethered to, or attached to, do they know the gospel? Do they know that you are a Christian and that you love God and that you want them to have a relationship with God? What is it that you really stand for? What is first in your life? If Christ really is first in your life? It will come out in your speech and in your behavior.

3. Fear is a major deterrent to the progress of the gospel.

and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
- Philippians 1:14

The situation in our world here the last couple of years with the pandemic has caused many to be fearful. And I have had several brethren saying, I don't come to church because I'm scared, I'm afraid. I don't understand the fear. I understand that nobody wants to get sick and people don't want to to lose their lives. But in the first century church, they also ran the risk of losing their lives on some occasion or being thrown in prison because they went to church or because they shared the gospel and they got caught doing that. There's places in the world today where if you are preaching the word of God and you get caught, you're going to prison or maybe even worse.

Fear is there, but really from a biblical point of view, the only thing we should be fearing is God. I don't want to put a guilt trip on you, but think about why you fear these things? And if you fear these things, does it mean you fear them more than you fear God? The solution I believe is

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
- I John 4:18

And so if you want to overcome your fear, grow more in your love for God and get it to that point that you are perfected in your love for God. And then these other things that we fear that make us frightful and tense and uptight, they will fade away the more we focus on our love for God. That's the solution. So if you want to cast out your fears, strive for that perfect love of God.

if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
- Colossians 1:23

Don't let fear move you away from your hope of the gospel. Stand firm.

C. Our Partnership in the Gospel

This is another predominant theme in the book of Philippians as it relates to the gospel.

1. We hold ourselves to a certain standard of conduct because we are ambassadors of the gospel.

I've talked a little bit about this in the previous classes, but I wanna revisit this subject. The gospel is something that we proclaim and in doing so, we are ambassadors of God.

²⁷Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; ²⁸in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.
- Philippians 1:27-28

We have a young man who is well known around the community, but he is slightly mentally disabled and so he doesn't work and he gets teased obviously by a lot of the people, but, there is a important man in our community that whenever he puts on an event, he hires this this young man to do some job, take tickets or make sure the hot cocoa is passed out or something like that. And you should see the change it makes in this man when he gets asked to do something that he believes is very important. Because of what is asked of him to do, it changes his whole demeanor. He sees himself as an ambassador to the one who asked him to do this and he just has a dignity about him.

Well, when we understand that we are the ones who are the proclaimers of the gospel, that should change our behavior too and our conduct. I'm an ambassador and I've been asked by God to be an ambassador of the gospel. It should have an effect. "Well, I can't be doing this stuff anymore, and I need to straighten up here a little bit and and and fly right." We need to make sure our conduct is correct. The gospel changes us in a very positive way if we will allow it to.

2. We do not strive by ourselves for the furtherance of the gospel; we stand together by faith.

In verse 27 again, he says, "only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the faith of the gospel." Note the word together. We stand together by faith and along with that:

3. We stand firm in one spirit with one mind.

Imagine a congregation of people that stand firm in one spirit and are of one mind. One mind doesn't mean everybody thinks the same thing and we never have any disagreements, but it means we're one in our purpose and in the direction that we're going as a church.

I've never met anybody that I agree with perfectly on everything, but we are united. We are of one mind. I have several brethren that are striving for the same thing I'm striving for. And we may, if we talk long enough, find little things that we disagree with but when it comes to the gospel, we are of one spirit and one mind. That's how all Christians should be.

4. We serve Christ together by taking the gospel to our friends and neighbors.

¹⁹But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. ²⁰For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. ²¹For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. ²²But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
- Philippians 2:19-22

I just love this because you could just hear through Paul's tone how much he loved Timothy and how highly he thought of him. He says, I'm sending Timothy because I know one thing, verse 20, he genuinely is concerned for your welfare. Have you met somebody like that before? Somebody who has a genuine concern for your welfare?

A lot of times in our fellowship we say, "well, how are you doing?" And what we expect to hear "fine." Sometimes we don't really ask,

• No really, how are you doing?
• How's your quiet time going?
• Are you reaching out?
• Are you studying the Bible with anybody that I need to be praying for?
• How's your walk with God?
• How are you and God doing?

I like to ask that question. How are you and God doing today? Be genuinely concerned for the welfare of others and we take the gospel to other people, our friends and our neighbors.

5. Presenting the gospel together gives us a genuine concern for each other's welfare.

For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.
- Philippians 2:20

He says, Timothy served with me in the furtherance of the gospel. We defend the gospel, but we also make sure that it is untethered, that it is growing, and then we have a partnership. The gospel brings about close relationships with one another because we're striving together to further the gospel.

In conclusion, let me just say, we're here for the defense of this plain gospel, and that's that is a predominant theme in the book of Philippians. What we're called to do is to stand shoulder to shoulder as we defend what we know to be right and true.

And as we're doing that, we're grateful to God that he has blessed us with the precious gospel, the gospel that can impact us personally in a great way just by knowing it, just by knowing that I'm in a safe condition, I'm in a right relationship with God. That alone impacts me. But then when I grow to really fully understand the love of God, that impacts me in a mighty way. God loves me. He wants what's best for me.

And on a daily basis, that impacts me to want to do things that are pleasing in His sight. Nothing is more pleasing than when you and I share the gospel. Nothing pleases the Father more than that.