Steps on the Way of Holiness
We are learning from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 3. Today we look at vv17-21.
What does a holy life look like?
Suppose you are living in the Macedonian city Philippi, in the middle of the 1st century AD. Through the apostle Paul you’ve heard the Good News about the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have turned to God in repentance and faith. You have joined the community of Christian believers, which is a very mixed assortment of people including a business-woman, an ex-fortune-teller and a prison officer.
You know that Jesus can and does transform people, and that he commands his followers to live holy lives – very different from the standards of most of the citizens of Philippi. But you have never met Jesus. You have no written account of his life. How do you know what a holy life looks like?
Then you hear that Paul has sent a letter to the Philippian church, in which he writes “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” And in that letter Paul speaks of his own lifestyle, and urges the Philippians to a life characterised by love, humility, joy, peace, and courage in the face of opposition to the gospel.
But Paul also warns them against people who are very bad examples: “As I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears, many are living as enemies of the cross of Christ…. Their mind is set on earthly things.” We don’t know details of these people: it seems that they claimed to be Christian believers but their lifestyle belied their profession.
What about us?
We all follow examples, and we all are examples to other people. So two questions:
a) Whose example do we follow?
Our behaviour is not to be based just on a written code of “Do’s and Don’ts”, but on a life – above all, the life pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also on the lives of his earliest faithful followers. And we have access to that pattern through the opened Bible, and by the renewing Holy Spirit who enables us to apply gospel truth to our own situations.
b) What example do we give?
The apostle Peter writes to Christian leaders “Be examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3). But all Christians are to be like the Thessalonians, who “became an example to all the believers” (1 Thess.1:7).
To ponder
You are writing a gospel, a chapter a day,
By the things that you do and the words that you say.
People hear what you say and they see what you do,
So – what is the gospel according to you?