WORTHY BEHAVIOUR

“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 the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved – and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” Philippians 1:27-30.

That’s quite a tall order, Paul, isn’t it?

It would be if it were given to people in any other religion. Or would it? Take, for example, those who were so convinced that they were right that they were willing to kill Christians for their conviction. They were representing the character of the god they worshipped.

The God of the Jews was, for them, a hard taskmaster. He demanded perfect obedience to a host of petty rules, or else… The gods of the Greeks and Romans were immoral, unscrupulous and unpredictable. It would not be difficult for those who worshipped them to be worthy of them. Nero was a good representative – using Christians as living torches to light up his garden parties, and putting them in the arena to face starving and ravenous wild beasts!

Paul’s call to a worthy walk was quite different from, and far more difficult than for all these others. Believers in Jesus represented a God of grace – one who stepped in to do for them what they could not do for themselves. He was not a taker but a giver. He not only gave people, and that included those who did not even believe in Him, everything they needed to live on this planet; food, water, clothing, shelter and the beauty and bounty of the world around them. He also gave His Son as a substitute for their sin.

However people defined sin, they could not get rid of it. People today who reject God’s provision of Jesus as a sacrifice for their sin, have to come up with another solution – like going through various rituals, trying to wash their sins away, kissing or touching an object, eating the right food, etc. How can that affect their standing before a holy God? Some even come closer to the truth by offering animal blood for their sin. Blood is required, yes, but animal blood has no value to God because no animal can atone for human sin.

For the believer in Jesus, however, behaviour and a life worthy of Him is not impossible. First of all, Jesus came to earth as a human being to live a perfect, sinless life. It had to be for Him to take our punishment for sin. The prophet Micah asked a very relevant question:

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Micah 6:6, 7.

Of course, none of these things can clear a guilty conscience. If they could, why do people keep going through the same rituals year after year?

Then Jesus died as a substitute for our sin. He was even made sin for us! Only a sinless human being could take the place of a sinner and pay his debt to a holy God.

“God made Him who had no sin, to be sin for us…” 2 Corinthians 5:21.

And then, miracle of miracles, He rose from the dead to set us free from the power of sin so that we are able to live a life worthy of Him. Anyone can live like the gods they worship but only through God’s power can a believer in Jesus live a life worthy of Him. Paul’s call to the Philippian church was not a vain hope but a powerful possibility because the very God they worshipped was in residence in them.

This was not a call to the Philippians and to us to self-effort or self-help, ten easy steps to holiness! This was an encouragement to live out who they were, sons and daughters of God, because they were forgiven and set free from the power of sin, and they had the Holy Spirit in them to energise them to be who they were.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.