A Gospel-Driven Warning

Well we return again to our study of the Book of Philippians. And as we come this morning to the third chapter of Paul’s great letter to his friends in Philippi, we observe a bit of a transition. Ever since penning his thesis-sentence in chapter 1 verse 27, Paul has been instructing his friends in the church of Philippi on what it means to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. He desires that they live Gospel-driven lives. And we’ve observed from the very beginning how, in the life of the Philippian church, that was going to work itself out in unity among the brethren. If the Philippians were to have any hope of faithfully ministering the Gospel to the pagans of Greco-Roman Macedonia, they were going to need to be unified—standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.

And so Paul devoted much of his time in the second chapter to exhorting them to Gospel-driven unity (2:1–2), and to the Gospel-driven humility that is the prerequisite for such unity (2:3–4). He has called them to Gospel-driven sanctification—the diligent pursuit of practical holiness, as they are to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (2:12–13), and to show themselves blameless and innocent in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (2:14–16)—to shine the holiness of Christ into an unbelieving world just as the stars light up the blackness of the night sky. And in all these things, he called them to imitate the examples of the Lord the Jesus Christ (2:5–11), and of three Gospel-driven ministers...

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