Christian Conduct

Philippians 1:27-28

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

Paul next urges the Christians to live in “a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ”. Then he indicates what that means. He encourages them to:

“stand firm in one spirit”
“with one mind”
“striving together for the faith”
be prepared for your opponent
be confident in your victory

His first exhortation is to “stand firm”. We should not be bashful or ashamed about our belief in Jesus Christ. Our opponents should not be able to cause us to back down from our belief. We are able to stand firm by relying on the Holy Spirit. When we are filled with His presence He is able to help us do that. We must also be careful not to let other “spirits” control us; notice the use of “one”. One of Satan’s tactics is to use other spirits to confuse us and we must be careful not to let that happen.

If we are together in one spirit we will have one mind. We must be careful about divisions within. Satan uses disagreement to divide us. Our heart and our mind should be centered on the person of Christ and that happens by faithfully studying the Bible, maintaining a consistent prayer life, and confessing sin as soon as we realize it.

When Paul says we should “strive together for the faith” he reminds us that we are not in the battle alone. We remain strong through fellowship with other believers. We can accomplish more together as a group than we can as individuals. We encourage one another, we exhort one another and we comfort one another.

We should remain constantly prepared for our opponent. Sometimes Satan works in very subtle ways and we must remain on guard against his advances. Ephesians 6:10-11 tells us we should “put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Finally, if we will do those things we can be confident in victory. Paul says in II Cor. 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ…”