Philippians Lesson 1

(Chapter 1)

Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Kevin Pendergrass.

Welcome to our study on the Book of Philippians. This is the first lesson in our study of the Book of Philippians. The subject of this lesson is “defending the Gospel.” We must be defenders of God’s Word. We live in a very passive world today—a world where people will tell us to simply keep our mouths shut, not say anything at all, and live the lives we want to live without trying to enforce the truth on other people. We are told that we should not try to defend the truth when other people are around. This is a mentality that we might expect in the world. Unfortunately, however, it has come into the church as well. There are many people in the Lord’s church who believe that we no longer should defend the truth. Yes, we can preach the truth and the Word of God. But we are told that we should not defend it. We should be passive, we are told, when it comes to defending the Word of God. Why have people developed this kind of mentality? Why have people stopped defending the truth?

There are several reasons. One has to do with the fact that people have become ashamed of the Gospel. They are ashamed that they are Christians. We cannot be ashamed. In Romans 1:16 Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Paul realized that he could not be ashamed of the Gospel, because if he was he could not teach it to other people or defend the truth. If we are ashamed, we will not want to defend the Word of God, and we will not want to teach the truth to others. We cannot be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

Some people may not necessarily be ashamed of the Gospel, but are simply lazy. They do not know how to defend the truth, and they do not know much about the Word of God. They fall into the category of being lazy. Proverbs 15:28 teaches that we must study how to answer.

Perhaps some people are simply cowards. I’ve met many people—even elders in the Lord’s church—who know the Scriptures very well, yet have become cowards. Revelation 21:8 teaches us that the cowardly will be lost in Hell for eternity. We cannot be cowards when it comes to defending the truth. We cannot worry about the consequences that come from following Christ.

Others simply have a lack of conviction. They might believe one thing one day, and then someone else comes along and teaches them the exact opposite. They then say, “Hey, this sounds pretty good. I like what this says.” They then follow whatever that person was teaching. Ephesians 4:14 teaches that we cannot be like those who are a wave that is tossed to and fro—one day being “here,” and the next day being “there.” We have to be convicted of God’s truth.

What does the Bible say regarding defending the Word of God? In 1 Peter 4:11 we are told, “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.” Even though we live in a very passive world, the Bible teaches us that we must defend the truth. In Philippians 1:17 Paul said that he had been “appointed for the defense of the gospel.” Paul knew that he had been appointed to defend the Gospel. A few verses earlier, in verse 7, Paul had said that he had been appointed not only for the defense of the Gospel, but also for its confirmation. As Jude was writing, he said in verse 3, “I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” We must be contenders and defenders of the Gospel.

The next question is this: What is the Gospel? Just about everybody will agree that we need to defend the Gospel, and that we need to defend the truth. Nobody will disagree with that. They can’t when they go to the Scriptures because it is very clear that we must defend the truth and the Gospel. Much of the controversy surrounds what the Gospel is. What is the Gospel? What must we defend? That is what we will be examining in a good part of the lesson today. We will go to the Bible to define what we need to be defending. What is the Gospel?

The word “gospel” simply means “good news” or “good message.” The first thing that we learn in Scripture is that we must defend the Gospel. And in defending the Gospel, we must defend the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So many people today reject the idea of God’s existence. Or, people may believe in God, but then go so far as to say that they do not believe Jesus was Who He said He was. They do not believe that Jesus was Who He claimed to be. The Bible teaches us that Jesus came to Earth and lived a sinless life for you and me. He was our ultimate sacrifice because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. Jesus Christ had to come to this Earth and shed His blood. John 3:16 teaches this. Christ died for you and me. But He not only died, but also was resurrected. He did not stay in the tomb. He was resurrected on the first day of the week. The Bible teaches that Jesus came to this Earth, lived, died, and was resurrected. We must defend the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul said,

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

We see from this that when we talk about defending the Gospel, it means that we are going to be defending the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is where it all begins because if people deny this, it is hard to go any farther in teaching them the Gospel. People first must understand that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord.

But is that where the Gospel ends? Many people in the religious world believe that the Gospel is only the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt the death, burial, and resurrection is included in the Gospel. But is that all the Gospel is? Is that where we need to close our Bibles—by just saying, “We all agree that the Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and that’s where it ends”? No. There is a lot more included in the Gospel

For example, if we are going to defend the Gospel, we must defend what the Bible has to say about the church and the kingdom. Included in the Gospel is the church. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 4:23—“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” What does the Bible say that Jesus did? He preached “the gospel of the kingdom.” Let’s talk about the Gospel of the kingdom and the church for a few minutes. What is the church? What is the kingdom? The kingdom is the same thing as the church. How do we know that? In Matthew 16:18-19 Jesus was talking to Peter. He said, “I will build My church.” At that time the church was not in existence. The church did not come into existence until Acts 2. But Jesus told Peter, “I will build My church.” In verse 19 He called the church “the kingdom.” We also see in Colossians 1 that people were being added to the kingdom. When they obeyed the Gospel, the Lord added them to the church or the kingdom (Acts 2:47). The truth about the kingdom and the church is that it is already here. Many people want to do away with preaching on the church. They say, “Teach about Jesus, but don’t teach about His church.” If we are going to defend and preach the Gospel, we must teach and defend the truth about the church. There is only one church that Jesus established. We saw this in Matthew 16:18. Jesus did not say, “I will build a plurality of different churches with different beliefs.” Jesus did not say that. Jesus said, “I will build My church.” Ephesians 4:4 teaches that there is only one body. Listen very carefully because this is very simple. Ephesians 4:4 says that there is only one body. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church.” In Ephesians 1:22-23 we see that the church is the same thing as the body. So there is only one church that Jesus Christ established. In fact, in Acts 20:28 we read that Jesus’ blood purchased the church. We must defend the idea of the one church—which goes against what a lot of people believe. They say, “We cannot teach the oneness of the church, and how a person must be a part of the church of Christ in order to go to Heaven. We cannot say that any more.” Says who?! The Bible says that we must teach “the whole counsel of God.” We must defend the Gospel.

In Mark 9:1 we find a powerful verse which shows that the kingdom is already here. Jesus was talking to a group of people, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Jesus told them that some of the people who were listening to Him at that moment in time would not die until they saw the kingdom “come with power.” I once spoke with a woman who did not believe that the kingdom had come. I showed her this passage, and said, “You have only two options if you believe that the kingdom has not yet come. You either have to say that Jesus is a liar, because He told some of those people that they would see the kingdom come before they died. Or, there are people walking around on Earth who are approximately 2,000 years old.” Of course, we know that Jesus is not a liar. And we know that there are no people walking around who are 2,000 years old. So what is the only possible conclusion? It is very simple. According to the Scriptures, the kingdom has already come, as we have seen in the passages we have discussed above. We must teach and defend the idea of the oneness of the church—the one church Jesus bought with His blood, the church of which He is the Head, and the church that belongs to Him, which is the church of Christ. There is only one church, and we must defend what the Scriptures say regarding it.

But that still is not all that is included in the Gospel. If we are going to defend the Gospel, we also must defend Christian conduct. We must defend the way Christians live every day —not just on Sundays when they come together to worship. Rather, we must ask, “How should a Christian live every day of his or her life?” (Gal. 2:13-14; 1 Tim. 1:8-11). In 2 Timothy 1:10 Paul spoke of what “has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” We are to be the light of the world (Mt. 5:16). John 3:19-21 teaches that Jesus was the light of this world. He exposed people’s sins because they were in darkness. When light is around darkness, what will it do to that darkness? It will expose it. What are we to be every day of our lives? We are to be the light of the world, if we are Christians. If we have been baptized for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38), then we are to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 Jn. 1:7-9). This is not just a “Sunday only” type deal. We must live in a way through our Christian conduct that is pleasing to God every single day of our lives. What does that mean? It means that we will not get involved in such things as drinking parties. We will not go out and drink and party, which 1 Peter 4 condemns. In fact, as Proverbs 23 teaches, we will not even look upon the wine when it is red. We will not even look upon alcoholic beverages. We will stay as far away from it as we possibly can. In 1 Thessalonians 5 we are taught to be sober minded. We are not to be like people in the world, but are to be sober minded so we can think clearly.

This also means that if we are going to be faithful Christians, we will not get involved in activities like gambling. Rather, we will work, as 1 Timothy 5 teaches. We will not throw away our money in the hope that we might win more. The Bible teaches against such things, and does not authorize the practice of gambling. We are not being good stewards if we do things like that.

We also will be faithful to our spouses. We will not engage in fornication and other sexual immorality. Rather, we will be faithful. Every day of our lives we must let our lights shine by living lives that are consistent with Christian conduct.

A lot of people try to get away from this by saying, “I will teach the fundamental facts, but I do not want to get into Christian conduct.” I heard a woman say on one occasion, “When you start teaching people how to live, you go from preaching to meddling.” That is not true. We are not meddling when we teach the whole Word of God. Part of the Gospel is Christian conduct. We must watch how we dress, and dress in a modest way rather than the way the world would teach us how to dress. We must cover “from the shoulder to the knee” (Gen. 3:21; Is. 47:1ff.; Ex. 28:42). We must be people who have good Christian conduct, preach Christian conduct, and defend Christian conduct.

But that still is not where the Gospel ends. If we are going to defend the Gospel, we must defend the importance of being obedient to the Gospel. It is not enough to just read or study the Bible and then say, “I believe what it says.” We must be obedient to the commands that have been given to us. Romans 10:16 teaches that we must obey the Gospel. In 2 Thessalonians 1:8 we read of those who will be lost when Jesus returns “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We must obey the Gospel. We also must teach obedience to the Gospel In Luke 6:46 Jesus made a powerful statement (as He always did) when He asked, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” People want to talk about how much they love God, or how much they love Jesus. But Jesus said, “Do not call me “Lord, Lord,’ if you are not willing to do that which I’ve told you to do. Do not say that you love Me if you are unwilling to do what I’ve commanded you to do.” In John 14: 15 Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments. By default that means that if we do not keep His commandments, we are telling Jesus (regardless of what we might say verbally) that we do not really love Him. In 1 John 5:3 we read, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” Not only are we to keep His commandments, but those commandments are not a burden to us. In 2 John 6 we read, “This is love, that we walk according to His commands.” We must teach and defend the idea of biblical obedience. Many people today teach that “faith without works is dead.” We must defend what the Bible says. That is exactly what the Bible says. Many people teach that all a person has to do is simply believe, when the Bible teaches that “faith without works is dead.” We must teach and defend obedience to the Gospel. James 2:19 says, “Even the demons believe, and tremble.” People say, “Well, I believe in God.” So does Satan. So do the demons. We are no better than they are if we do not obey Jesus Christ.

Preaching the Gospel also means that we will defend biblical unity. Ephesians 4:5 says that there is one faith. A lot of times people will come up to you and ask, “What faith are you?” Have you ever had anyone ask you that question? Or, maybe you’ve asked someone that question. They might say, “I’m a Christian.” And someone might ask, “What particular faith are you?” The Bible does not say that there are various brands of faith. It does not teach that we are a Christian, but that there are many different faiths under the umbrella of Christianity. That is not true. Ephesians 4:5 says that there is only one faith. In Amos 3:3 the question is asked, “How can two walk together unless they be agreed?”
So many people today say, “We can’t go to the Bible and be in agreement on what it has to say. That is impossible because you will go to the Bible and take something out of, and I want to go to the Bible and take a view that might be the complete opposite.” But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says that we are to speak the same thing and be of the same mind and judgment (1 Cor. 1:10). Look in Philippians 1:27 at what Paul had to say in regard to striving for unity. “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Did it say “for the faiths of the Gospel”? No, it said “for the faith of the gospel.” That is unity. We must strive for biblical unity rather than a “unity” that says, “You believe what you want, and I’ll believe what I want, and we’ll go separate ways and meet in Heaven.” That is not what the Bible teaches. It teaches that we are to strive for unity that is representative of the one faith that is the Gospel. We must preach unity, which means that we will preach against denominationalism and division. We must preach against the idea that says, “I’m going to start my own sect, and you start your own sect.” The Bible does not teach that. We must defend biblical unity, which says that we can be united, and that if we are faithful, we must be united (as Paul wrote to the church in Corinth).

To sum up what “preaching the Gospel” is all about, the last point I want us to consider is that preaching and defending the Gospel means that we will defend all of God’s Word. In this lesson, I’ve broken down the Gospel. But in essence we can say that if we are going to defend the Gospel, then we must defend the whole Word of God. There are not pieces of the Word of God that allow us to pick and choose so that we then can say, “I will defend this, but I do not want to have to defend that.” We must defend all of God’s Word. In Colossians 1:5 Paul spoke of “the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.” In Acts 20:27 Paul had been with the elders in Ephesus, and said, “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.” We cannot treat the Bible as if it were an all-you-can eat buffet, and then say, “This looks good to me, so I’ll take it because I like it; but I don’t really like what that says, so I’m just going to leave it alone and ignore it.” We cannot do that. We must take the whole Word of God. We must defend all of God’s Word. John 17:17 teaches us that God’s Word is truth. It is only through the truth (Jn. 8:32) that we can be set free—which is why we must defend all of God’s truth.

In the last part of this lesson, I want us to answer the question, “Why must we defend the Gospel?” What is the importance of defending the Gospel? If we know what we believe, and we know that it is based on the Word of God and that we are going to do what we are supposed to do, then why do we have to defend the Gospel? In 1 Peter 3:15 we are commanded to do that! We must be able to give a defense to those who ask us. If we go out to teach people, and they ask us a question, we need to be able to answer them. Why? Because the Bible commands us to do so! But we also need to be able to tell the truth to those who are lost. Look at the pattern that Paul followed when he went into various cities. In Acts 17:2-4 we read,

“Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.”

Why must we defend the Gospel? We must teach people who are lost. Why? So that they can have an opportunity to obey the Gospel. If we really love lost souls, we will do everything we can to make sure that they have an opportunity hear the truth.

But another reason we must defend the Gospel is to make sure that we are right. We must examine ourselves and the way we are living. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul said, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” I was speaking to a man recently who was telling me about how his son had been studying with his girl friend. He said that for the past few months his son had gained more knowledge from having to defend the truth than he had in the rest of his life. Why? It was because he was defending the Gospel. As we do that, we will be examining ourselves. We will be able to see that we do not do things “just because of tradition” or “just because our mothers told us to do it.” Rather, it is something that the Bible says. We must be able to give a defense for what we believe. A defense is not, “This is what my preacher said.” We must go to the Bible and give a biblical defense so that we can say, “here is why we do what we do. We do it because we find it in the Bible.” “Acting by faith” (Rom. 14:23; Heb. 11:6) means that we know that the Word of God is where faith comes from (Rom. 10:17). We defend the Gospel in order to examine ourselves.

We also defend the Gospel in order to promote true Bible study. In Hosea 4:6 we find a statement that should never be said of us. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Do you have knowledge? Have you obeyed the truth? Have you done what is required for you to be able to go to Heaven? If you have yet to obey the truth, we pray today that you will obey the full Gospel of Christ.

Narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:

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STUDY QUESTIONS FOR Philippians lesson 1 (chapter 1)

1. According to the material contained in this lesson, what does the word “gospel” mean?

2. According to Romans 1:16, what is the Gospel?

3. What important spiritual principle is contained in Proverbs 15:28?

4. What does Ephesians 4:14 warn Christians not to be like?

5. According to 1 Peter 4:11, when Christians speak, they are to speak in a certain way. What is it?

6. In Philippians 1:17 Paul said that he had been “appointed” to do something. What was it?

7. What, according to Jude 3, are all Christians appointed to do?

8. According to Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, what is the main thrust of the Gospel?

9. In Matthew 16:18, what did Jesus Christ say that He would do?

10. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus used the word “church.” Then, in verse 19 He used a synonym for the church. What was that synonym?

11. According to Acts 2:47, when people obeyed the Gospel, to what were they added by God?

12. In Ephesians 1:22 Paul spoke of “the church.” Then, in verse 23, he used a synonym to speak of the church. What was that synonym?

13. According to Ephesians 4:4, how many “bodies” of Christ are there?

14. If, according to Colossians 1:18-19, the body is the church, and if, according to Ephesians 4:4 there is only one body, then how many churches did Christ build?

15. According to Acts 20:28, what did Jesus purchase with His own blood?

16. What important teaching about Christ’s church/kingdom is contained in Mark 9:1?

17. According to Paul’s statement in 2 Timothy 1:10, what did Jesus give us “through the Gospel”?

18. What important question did Jesus ask in Luke 6:46?

19. According to Ephesians 4:5, how many “faiths” are there in Christ?

20. According to the last part of Colossians 1:5, what does the Gospel contain?

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