I have given this message a strange and potentially misleading title – ”Becoming the Gospel.” I had seven other titles under consideration, but I chose one that relates to verse 27 – “Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel.” Out of those seven options this is perhaps the worst, but I had a purpose in choosing this one.
I am not unaware that the language used in our King James Bibles is four hundred years old. During the last four centuries the definitions of many words have changed, and some words have even been dropped from common use. Also over the last 150 years, new versions of the Bible have appeared, trying to correct these problems. But the truth is – most of them are not new translations of the original Greek and Hebrew texts. Many are basically paraphrases. And those paraphrases are skewed towards the bias of the editor. In other words, they are “doctrinal Bibles” rather than true expressions of God’s Words. Some other versions ARE translations of old Bibles which were modified to suit various heretics of the day. In the estimation of thousands of pastors and hundreds of Biblical experts, the King James Version of the Bible is still the best.
But that doesn’t eliminate the problem many readers have when it comes to reading the old King James. And our scripture text is an example of this. There are a couple words and phrases here which don’t make sense without someone to explain them. For example, “Let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ,” does not mean what many modern readers initially think it means. To most moderns, “conversation” refers to an informal discussion between a few people. But that was not what Paul was saying. And “what is the GOSPEL becoming,” or “what is BECOMING the gospel?” Is it something new? Also, most likely, the word “perdition” in verse 28 needs to be defined for modern Bible readers. And finally there is just the way many Bible sentences are put together. Bible texts don’t sound like texts you’d ordinarily read on your 5G phone.
But this is not a new problem. It is not a 21st century riddle. Jesus’ first disciples raised a question which parallels this modern difficulty. And the truth is, the disciples’ problem doesn’t change even if we were using a more modern Bible version. In Matthew 13 the Lord Jesus had taught yet another lesson using a parable – a story – to illustrate it. He did this over and over again; sometimes one right after another. On this occasion the disciples asked Him, “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” And Jesus answered, “Because it is GIVEN unto YOU to KNOW the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to THEM it is NOT GIVEN.”
If I can put it this way: There aren’t many people in this world who really want to know what God has to say. They don’t want to understand Jesus’ parables, and they don’t want to understand Paul or the gospel. So they don’t apply themselves. They don’t try very hard to grasp what is being said. But those people to whom God gives a genuine desire to learn, He also reveals what they need to hear. They may have to learn a few definitions, and they may have to listen to some teachers. But with the Bible open in front of them, they will be given ears to hear and hearts to understand. This is particularly true – and particularly important – for new believers – young converts. Don’t give up just because a verse or statement is difficult or seems unintelligible. Not always, but most of the time, there are reasonable answers to your questions.
This morning lets consider the confusing clause, “becoming the gospel,” using three words: conversation, salvation and opposition.
Let’s start with the very important word “SALVATION.”
Verse 28 – “In nothing (be) terrified by your adversaries; which is to them an evident token of PERDITION, but to you of SALVATION, and that of God.” Paul was encouraging his friends not to startled – or terrified – by those who hate the gospel. That hatred is proof of their perdition. The word “perdition” is translated “damnation” in I Peter 2:3. Their hatred is proof of their damnation. The word speaks about utter and eternal loss – condemnation – consignment to eternal judgment. The ANTICHRIST is called “the son of perdition” in II Thessalonians 2:3. He will never submit himself to God; He will spend eternity in Hell. THAT is “perdition.”
In contrast to perdition is “SALVATION.” The opposite of “damnation” or “condemnation” is “salvation,” one of the sweetest words in the Bible. It speaks of “deliverance” and Paul has already used it to refer to his deliverance from his bonds or chains. But its real blessedness becomes clear when it is used in regard to the salvation of our eternal souls. For example, Ephesians 2 describes God’s saints as people who were previously spiritually dead. They were in time past, walking according to the course of the world, and according to the Devil. They were “children of wrath,” meaning they were under God’s eternal hatred and condemnation. But – “when we were dead in sins, (God) hath quickened us (made us alive) together with Christ, (by grace ye are SAVED) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
“Salvation” refers to the sinner’s deliverance from damnation – the condemnation that his sins deserve. As the father of John the Baptist prophesied of his son, “thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of SALVATION unto his people by the REMISSION of their sins.” This is what gospel salvation is all about: the remission, the removal – of sin’s punishment – forgiveness. And that salvation is initiated by that God. “GOD commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now JUSTIFIED by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were RECONCILED to God by the death of His son, much more, being reconciled we shall be SAVED by his life.” Following forgiveness of sin, another aspect of salvation is reconciliation of the sinner with God. “Neither is there SALVATION in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” – Acts 4:12. Hebrews 2:3 – “HOW shall we ESCAPE, if we NEGLECT so great SALVATION; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?”
Salvation is the great theme of the Bible – it speaks of forgiveness of sin and restoration to God.
Unfortunately God’s wonderful salvation is countered in this world with hate-filled OPPOSITION.
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to SUFFER for his sake.” Picture the Apostle Paul coming into Philippi for the first time. Philippi is a cosmopolitan community; it is in Macedonia, but it is a Roman colony filled with Italian soldiers. There are Greeks living there, and probably some Asians – along with a few Jews, but not very many. Along comes this Jewish Christian, probably as outwardly different as a man in a turban is in our society. His face and head are covered in ugly scars from his stoning in Lystra and from other beatings. He might even be repulsive to look at. He isn’t trying to open a shop or create some kind of business. He is a teacher, a speaker – to the locals, he is a religious philosopher.
Why does Paul have those obvious scars? It was because he had been beaten many times and even stoned and left for dead. Acts 14 tells us, it was because he preached “that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea and all things that are therein. Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways – their own religions. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness…” Why was Paul so often beaten and attacked by men with murder in their hearts? For no other reason, than that he tried to share with them the gospel of God’s wonderful salvation.
When he was in Philippi, he told people that the fortune-telling religion of Delphi, and the Roman religion of emperor worship, were damning their souls to hell. He shared with people that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was the creator of Heaven and earth, and therefore their ideas about other gods and their ideas evolution were inaccurate. He lovingly and carefully told people to repent and turn from their empty religious ideas to the true God. He declared that before God will give salvation to sinners, they must acknowledge that they are sinners. He said, they must come to the end of their self-righteousness and the end of their self-justification. In Philippi, it took the encouragement of an earthquake, but that is what the local jailor had done. Like him, they must cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” And then they must realize there is nothing they can do. Salvation is the gift of God which is given to people who give up and surrender to trusting the Saviour.
But people who worship idols, and people who follow ancient religious philosophies, don’t want to surrender. When the gospel preacher tells someone that their beer-guzzling, cigar-smoking, Christ-denying grandmother is not in heaven, that grand-daughter might come close to punching that preacher. When he tells people they must repent of their greed, their lying, and their cheating – they IGNORE him. But when he tells them that God hates their runaway gambling addiction, their homosexuality, their pornography, and their general immorality, they are ready to draw blood. When the Bible-believer speaks about divine creation, he is called a “fool” by those who have for two hundred years insisted on the illogical idea of spontaneous life generation.
Paul says to his Christian friends, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to SUFFER for his sake.” Salvation from sin is a gift from God through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is given in the behalf of Christ. But it is not the only “gift” the believer receives – “but also to SUFFER for his sake.” He says, you “have the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” We both have people who hate the gospel and contend with us, because we have been born again but they love their sins and want to remain addicted to them. But, “we wrestle NOT against flesh and blood, but against principles, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high place” – Ephesians 6:12. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” – I Peter 5:8.
Please understand that the sinner who rejects your witness should not be considered to be your enemy. The disciples once did that, and they were severely rebuked. “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?” But Jesus turned, “and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not to destroy men’s live but to save them” – Luke 9. That sinner over there is not your enemy; he is someone to be loved and pitied. He stands now where you once stood. He shouldn’t be your enemy, but that doesn’t mean he won’t consider YOU to be his enemy for opposing his sin and his false religion. Paul said, “In nothing (be) TERRIFIED by your adversaries; which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.” The word “terrified” is used in secular Greek literature to speak of a horse being “spooked.” More often than not, your opponents will try simply to spook you – shock you – in order to silence you. The fact they are doing so proves their lost condition, but it also proves that you possess something good.
So in the midst of this opposition, your job is to maintain your Christian CONVERSATION.
“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ…” The root of the Greek word translated “conversation” is also the root of the word “politics.” And briefly put, Paul was telling those Philippians – and telling us – to be good citizens.
I’ll come back to this in a minute, but in the context of what happened in Philippi this takes an interesting twist. Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi for commanding a demon out of a poor, young slave girl. Because her owners lost the income they were getting from her fortune-telling, Paul was arrested and beaten. When God miraculously delivered them, they were brought into the house of the prison warden, and they lead him to faith in Christ Jesus.
Then Acts 16 says, “And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.” Roman citizenship was a somewhat rare, highly prized and useful possession in those turbulent days. Paul, because of his parents’ birthplace, was not only a Jew, but he was born a Roman citizen. His friends back in Philippi, knew all about citizenship, because that city, despite being in Macedonia was honored to be a Roman colony with all its right and its responsibilities. Paul, despite being a Roman citizen was beaten and incarcerated illegally, potentially bring down the wrath of Rome. But that was not Paul’s point.
The Philippians Christians, understanding citizenship, were urged by Paul to behave like citizens. But he was not talking about Roman citizenship, American citizenship or Canadian citizenship. “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the GOSPEL of Christ…” The word “becometh” could be translated “befitting.” “Only let your conversation be as it BEFITS the gospel of Christ…” This idea comes up again in chapter 3 – “For our CONVERSATION is in HEAVEN; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body…” The Christian’s citizenship – his most important citizenship – is heavenly, not earthly.
Physically and politically, there is a sense in which Paul was a man without a country. He was born in Tarsus just off on the southern coast of Turkey, but he left there as a child. He was a Jew and therefore should have been welcome in Jerusalem and in the temple. But it was in Jerusalem that he was arrested by the Jews, and now he is in Rome because of their hatred. They had become enemies toward him, because he told them the truth about their corrupted religion. Did the Jews love or appreciate Paul? Did the Romans? Did Emperor Nero appreciate Paul and his message of salvation? Paul was a man without an earthly country.
But he was a citizen of Heaven. He had a home prepared for him there. Christ Jesus said to all of His fellow citizens, “In my fathers house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also.” As Peter told us in his first epistle: there is “an INHERITANCE incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation…” John describes seeing the new Jerusalem, where the citizens of heaven shall reside. “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” The Lamb’s book of life is the registry of the citizens of Heaven.
Going back to our text and verse 27 – “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ…” Christians today are much like Paul was in his day – homeless strangers in a hostile world. And like Paul it should be our desire to see others spiritually naturalized – made citizens of Heaven. Therefore it is important that we behave like the citizens we are. Make sure that your lives are suitable and agreeable with the Gospel. We need to encourage and magnify the gospel, not discourage people toward it. “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ; that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”
Christians shouldn’t first and foremost be known as American citizens for fighting for their rights, any more than Paul fought for his or the Lord Jesus fought for His. Paul could have prevented his beating and arrest if he declared his Roman citizenship. He only used that card when he had the opportunity to extend the boundaries of the kingdom of Heaven. He passively fought for the gospel – the constitution of his heavenly citizenship, but he refused to fight for his Roman citizenship. He behaved like a Christian, not a Roman or Jew, even when the people around him behaved like animals. He “BECAME the gospel of Christ,” in the sense that he made it more beautiful by his Christian behavior.
Conclusion:
Our Christian responsibilities have not changed since the days of Paul. We are to glorify the gospel of Christ with our words and with out lives. We are to be a testimony of the gospel of Christ by the way we live as citizens of Heaven. The society around us may not be exactly what Paul knew, but the similarities between then and now are substantial.
And with this in mind I ask you to consider yourself in the sight of God. You may not be a Roman or a Macedonian, but you are a sinner in the sight of God. As such, do you hate and oppose the gospel when it reveals and condemns your sin? Do you despise those who believe the gospel and who want to glorify their Saviour? Or will you bow before the truth of God and reach out by faith to the Christ who died on the cross as God’s sacrifice for sin? You may not yet have your world falling down around you like the Philippian jailor did. But your earthly life is coming to an end, and then you will face the Judge of the quick and the dead. Will you be able to say with that jailor, “I have put my faith for eternity in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross?”