I remember when Sam contacted me about coming and speaking at the Truth Conference he was like, “hey do you want to come and be a part of the Truth Conference this year…ya know teach and share at the retreat?”  And I was like, “yea, I’d love to, man.”  And then it went something like this…”great, the theme is Philippians 1:27, Christian Conduct…talk you later!”  I’m glad we weren’t in the room together because I’m sure I looked like I had just eaten a bad berry or something!

 

I was like, Christian Conduct?  Christian Conduct?  I read Philippians 1:27 over and over again.  I had this mind picture of a bicycle wheel with all of the thousands of spokes shooting off of the hub ya know…what am I gonna do with that!?  And so I just started to pray and wait upon the Lord and as I read through Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Revelation, the Gospels, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, like, “God, give me something here!”  Kind of avoiding 1, 2 and 3^rd John cause “these people don’t know me, I can’t go in there with guns blazing!”  And then I went through 1 and 2 Chronicles and man when you’re over there…you’re desperate for sermon material…just kidding…

 

But as I was waiting on the Lord, week after week I was preparing Bible studies for our services at Calvary Cherry Creek and over and over I started to notice an underlying fundamental.  An aspect of what it is to follow the Lord that prevailed through all of the studies, every exhortation, each point of correction and each and every concluding thought at the end of the studies.  You see it is an aspect of Christian Conduct that somehow someway for me, sums up all of scriptural guidelines and commandments of My only Commander…cause through this whole ministry thing, through this whole marriage thing that I’m in, through this whole fatherhood thing that I’m in, through this whole life that I have been given and called to…there’s only One person who’s applause I seek, only One God whom I will bow to…and worship. 

 

And that aspect of Christian Conduct, which I haven’t even given you yet…I’m still building to it…(you’re like, “is it to be a soldier…he did just speak about his commander…is it to be a father…’cause the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4:15 that even though we have 10,000 teachers, we have not many fathers…is it to be a good husband, a good pastor, a good and loyal servant?”)…it’s all those things you see…yet it’s more…it’s something that Paul got, man.  As he wrote there to his beloved church in Philippi.

 

The first city in Europe where Paul had brought the gospel.  His primary place, man…his “put in point”…just like when you lower a boat into the water and you’re on your way…as he wrote powerful building block type statements, fundamental and structural type exhortations such as we find in Philippians 1:9-11, “And this I pray, that your love may about still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ…”  And then he says something so profoundly impactful and important…”to the glory and praise of God.”  Paul gets it.

He goes on to write in verses 20 and 21, “I am filled with sincere expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live…Christ, and to die…gain.”  Paul knows what I’m talking about…you’re like, “well that’s nice, I don’t!”  Hold up just for a moment more, because here now is where we come to the “monon.”

“Did he say, “mormon?”  “Honey, start the car, we’re checking out our neighbors church this weekend…”  Hang on now…I said “monon.”  You see it is the Greek word that starts out the statement Paul makes in verse 27…after talking about love abounding in knowledge and discernment, offense being annialated, approval of excellent and holy things being critical, the fruits of righteousness being prevalent…after saying that his life is summed up on one word, Christ and death is his reward…after showing us his one and only motivation…that in all things, Christ would be magnified to the glory and praise of God…after all that…he begins this subsequent verse with “monon.”

 

He says, “monon” or “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.”  You see, after laying out those monumental statements which we’ve already read in the verses leading up to this one…Paul stops, takes a breath…maybe a sip of his Red Bull…exhales and writes…oh but my dear fellow followers…”only.” 

 

I remember when I was 16 years old…I got this really junky car for $300.  It was a 1980 Toyota Celica and it was ugly.  It was two tone…red and metal.  But it was mine and I remember working on that thing…sowing up the seats, washing it…and then, before I turned 17, I got a different car.  A 1983 Mazda RX-7.  Baby blue with black leather interior…and boy it was sweet.  No dents, no rust, flip up lights worked (well not when I bought it but I fixed them)…man it was nice and I remember drawing pictures of the dash in class just because I could not wait until I got to get back in that baby.

 

It’s funny too because I loved that car so much that even just a few years ago I bought another one…but it’s interesting how memories are memories and when you try to recapture that thought, that thing…it just isn’t the same, because you aren’t the same.  I had that car for about six months, it was chocolate brown…my wife wouldn’t ride in it, she said it was a different kind of brown…it broke down 4 or 5 times and I finally got rid of it…but that’s how fond I am in my memory of this beautiful baby blue coupe I had when I was just a kid.

 

And I remember learning how to maintain it.  The rotary engine burned oil faster than any other engine and so about every two weeks I’d drop about half a quart of oil into the engine.  I’d keep the interior clean with products that I had learned were the best for those types of materials.  I’d jack it up and change the oil every 3,000 miles…I’d change the air filter and tweak the headlights so that they were perfectly equal.  But probably the last thing I learned was an important lesson concerning tire pressure. 

 

Now there are fundamentals concerning tire pressure.  You gotta take the cap off of the little stem there…and you need a compressor to put the air in because a foot pump just doesn’t get the job done…but there is a little raised bit of rubber on the sidewall of every tire and it has this peculiar little word there…”only.”  Well, I missed the “only.”  I remember sitting at a stop light in Virginia and my dad was riding with me in the passenger seat…never even seen the car before because he lived in Massachusetts, he was just down in Virginia visiting my sister and I and boy was I proud.  

 

Car was clean, interior was spotless, audio system was crisp, little blue tree hanging from the rear view mirror just smelling like lovely…and it was a hot day, a very hot day…about a 100 degrees and our windows were down and boy that rotary engine was just purring…and then it happened.  BOOOOOM!  I thought we were at war man.  The car jumped, the sound was so loud…and it was close…my head ducked…DRIVE BY ya know!?

 

And we were both so confused as to what had happened and I remember pulling off into this parking lot that was right next to where we were sitting at the stoplight and we got out of the car and then I saw it…the entire sidewall of my back tire was blown completely off!  And my father stood there saying, “how did that happen, sheesh, I’ve never seen anything like this.”  And of course, always in the conversation, I could have just kept my mouth shut, I said, “yea, neither have I…and I just put air in these yesterday too…hmm.”

 

And he looked at me…I’ll never forget his look and he asked me…”Matt, how much pressure did you put in these tires?”  And I said, “pressure, what are you talking about, I filled them up!!”

 

He almost had a heart attack laughing at me.  You see I had missed this word “only” and even though my car was shiny, my bass was pumping, my engine was purring, I wasn’t going anywhere…I had something like 130 pounds of pressure in each tire…which as you know is about 4 times what you should have…and all the while, as I whistled a tune and filled them tires up…all the while right there in front of me on the TIRE ITSELF, “only this much pressure!”  But I missed it.

 

Paul says, don’t miss this.  All of these wonderful truths and things of the Lord…all of them may just end in a blow out…if you miss this “only.”  Maybe on the outside your paint is shiny, your bass is pumping, your busy even in ministry, but you just aren’t going anywhere…you’re stale in your walk maybe…Paul says, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

 

You see we walk this life out, we seek the Lord, we serve Him and His people, we try and try and try don’t we?  But in the end of it all, what’s the point if it’s not simply worship?  “Only, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  Paul what are you saying?  The Gospel?  What is that even?  That God has accomplished your rescue.  That the Ancient of Days, the Creator of all that is known and unknown, the Father of the Cosmos, looked upon your helpless state and paid the highest price possible…because of His desperate love for you and for me.

 

Highest price possible?  Yes.  What did God ever have that He Himself did not create?  His only Son, Jesus…and so in sending Jesus, in giving His only Son for you and for me…He gave His all…He gave Himself, because His eternal and immediate desire was and is that we would know Him.  The good news man...the gospel you see…but wait there’s more! 

 

That Son of His, the One that is from everlasting to everlasting, the One that carried our sorrows, was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities and ultimately gave His life…well He also had the power to take His life back and He lives today.  Do you know what that means?  That means He has accomplished our peace!  The grave could not hold Him man and by His righteousness and His love and His stripes…man we can be healed.  Many have claimed to have life, many have claimed to know truth…but only One has proven it!

 

Our only responsibility in the matter?  Our only part, our only…hey, he keeps saying “only”…you got it…Paul knew it…

 

Jesus was surrounded by people one day on the shores of the sea of Capernaum and they said to Him, “what shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  Lord, what is our part?  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

 

Our part…believe.  Not with our minds…what a waste of time…with our hearts man.  Minds can’t worship, worship is matter of truth and spirit Jesus said and those things dwell only in the very heart of man! Our hearts direct our thoughts, our words, our actions, our decisions, our lives…our hearts direct our trust...”my heart’s desire”…ever said that?  Yea, you see as the heart goes, so does the man…and as the heart goes, so does the woman.  And so, as we prepare to continue to worship God…I wonder will your worship be in the Spirit…because Jesus said here “it is the work of God that you believe.” 

 

It’s the Spirit’s work in your heart, but first, is the Spirit welcome?  And as we prepare to continue to worship God…I wonder will your worship be in truth…if not, then maybe you’ve missed the “only” that Paul had found.  That all of this, all of us, all that we do…is not responsibility, is not privilege, is not ministry, is not do’s and don’t of being a good Christian…man it’s to worship Him…to please Him who gave His all…you loose sight of that and you slip into routine and eventually exhaustion.  You loose sight of that and repentance no longer is priority in your life…

 

Maybe the gospel hasn’t quite ended your life of sin and carnality just yet and you live on in the flesh…believing God and Jesus and the Gospel as fact…look man, even Lucifer does that…

 

Believe with your heart…hear the gospel with the depths of your inner man, your inner woman…this Christian conduct thing hasn’t been working out too well for you has it?  Maybe you even find yourself a little bitter against some of your brothers and sisters in Christ who have it all together…well let me tell you, they don’t…not at all.  We are all busted…but only one thing they might have…they might have believed for real…

 

Being a good husband isn’t quite working out for you is it?  A good wife?  A good father or mother.  Trying to not scream, trying to care more, trying to be interesting…intending to be all the things that your father wasn’t…man I’m sick of trying to be the man that my father never taught me to be…and so are you aren’t you?  Believe the gospel.  Not just as fact but as truth…truth goes so much further beyond just fact…truth involves trust man…return to the heart of worship, not the heart of obedience, not the heart of conduct…return to pure, intimate worship…return tonight…

 

Because we have much to discuss regarding conduct worthy of the gospel.  Much that will encourage you, lift you up, help you to press in on a fervent, powerful and substantial walk with the Lord…but it’s all just air in the tires man if we miss this…The Father has come, the Creator has created…and here you stand…a creature.  If a creature, and indeed there is a creator, then your proper response is to submit to Him that created and worship.

 

Submit your life, submit your will, submit your plans, submit your family, submit your all…why the forbidden tree in the Garden man?  Yes for real relationship, I’ve been taught well too but do you not see that from the beginning God has made it clear that His will and intimate closeness and fellowship with Him is to be sought through submission?  Adam, submit to Me son and stay in the Garden…Adam chose poorly, Jesus did not…do business with the Lord and then let’s get about His business these two days…in Jesus name.