Worthy E-Book

Sinclair B. Ferguson

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Growing Gospel Integrity
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Written by Theologian Sinclair Ferguson, the Second Book in the Growing Gospel Integrity Series Explores the Christian's Call to Christlikeness While Jesus offers forgiveness for believers who sin, Scripture makes it clear that Christians are to pursue obedience and holiness. So what does it mean to walk in a manner that's "worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Phil. 1:27), and how should that look in the life of a Christ follower? In this short, accessible guide, theologian Sinclair Ferguson explains the importance of living worthy of the gospel, why the principle is often forgotten, and how it's cultivated. Clarifying the difference between biblical obedience and legalism, Ferguson exhorts believers to pursue Christlikeness, offering practical examples from Scripture. The second book of the Growing Gospel Integrity series, Worthy helps Christians, students, pastors, and those preparing for ministry to live as citizens of heaven rather than citizens of the world. - Written by Theologian Sinclair Ferguson: Explains how humility, God's providence, and even suffering cultivate righteousness - Practical Study: Encourages Christians to intentionally pursue holiness and find satisfaction in the presence and love of Christ - Great for Pastors, Students, and Laypeople: Defines the grammar and language of the Bible and explores the difference between obedience and legalism - Part of the Growing Gospel Integrity Series 

Leseprobe

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“God delights to turn things upside down. Most think a ‘worthy’ person must be someone great. Sinclair Ferguson shows that the people ‘worthy of the gospel’ are those humbled by their sins, transformed by Christ’s cross, and obsessed with knowing the Lord. Nothing less is fitting for the gospel. Highly recommended!”

Joel R. Beeke, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

“Like conjoined twins, legalism and antinomianism share the same heart. Curved in on itself, it recoils at being justified by an alien righteousness and being sanctified by conformity to someone else’s identity. Sinclair Ferguson’s long ministry of proclaiming God’s word has always struck at both forms of heart disease. Laced with pastoral warmth, striking illustrations, and dry Scottish humor, Worthy sets the table richly for a feast that will nourish the hearts of believers and invite strangers to pull up a chair.”

Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

“For years, Sinclair Ferguson has helped me toward having an experiential grasp of my union with Christ. His sermons and books have been friends along the way, leading toward spiritual maturity and a life with God. Because Worthy is a short book, I assumed it would be a summary of ideas I’ve read or heard from Ferguson elsewhere. Instead, each chapter felt full of fresh insights and pastoral wisdom. As I was finishing this book, I kept telling others how excited I am for my congregants and even my teenage children to read it.”

John Starke, Lead Pastor, Apostles Church, New York City; author, The Possibility of Prayer

Worthy

Growing Gospel Integrity

Michael Reeves, series editor

Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel, Sinclair B. Ferguson

Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness, Gavin Ortlund

Worthy

Living in Light of the Gospel

Sinclair B. Ferguson

Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel

Copyright © 2023 by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2023

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

Scripture marked AT is the author’s translation.

Scripture marked KJV is from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8317-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8320-9 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8318-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ferguson, Sinclair B., author.

Title: Worthy : living in light of the gospel / Sinclair B. Ferguson.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2023. | Series: Growing gospel integrity | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022038680 (print) | LCCN 2022038681 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433583179 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433583186 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433583209 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ—Example.

Classification: LCC BT304.2 .F47 2023  (print) | LCC BT304.2  (ebook) | DDC 232.9/04—dc23/eng/20221209

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022038680

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022038681

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2023-03-30 01:49:37 PM

To

Derek and Rosemary

in gratitude

for

our friendship

and

your ministry

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Philippians 1:27

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction

1  Be Worthy: A Forgotten Calling?

2  To Be Worthy: Some Basic Grammar

3  Being Made Worthy: God’s Instruments to Change Us

4  A Worthy Mindset: What It Looks Like

5  A Life Worthy: How It Came About—and Comes About

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

Gospel integrity is, I suggest, the greatest and most vital need of the church today. More than moral behavior and orthodox beliefs, this integrity that we need is a complete alignment of our heads, our hearts, and our lives with the truths of the gospel.

In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul issues a call to his readers to live as people of the gospel. Spelling out what this means, Paul sets out four marks of gospel integrity.

First, he entreats, “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27a). The people of the gospel should live lives worthy of the gospel.

Second, this means “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (1:27b). In other words, integrity to the gospel requires a united stand of faithfulness together.

Third, knowing that such a stand will mean suffering and conflict (1:29–30), Paul calls the Philippians not to be “frightened in anything” (1:28a). He describes this courage as “a clear sign” of our salvation (1:28b).

Fourth, Paul writes:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (2:1–3)

Paul thus makes it clear that there is no true Christian integrity without humility.

The simple aim of this series is to reissue Paul’s gospel-based call to an integrity that means living worthily, unitedly, courageously, and humbly. We need to recognize, however, that these four marks are not abstract moral qualities or virtues. What Paul has in mind are, quite specifically, marks and manifestations of integrity to the gospel. As such, the books in this series will unpack how the gospel fuels and shapes those qualities in us.

Through this little series, may God be glorified, and may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (4:23).

Michael Reeves

Series Editor

Introduction

The title of this little book—Worthy—cries out for explanation for one obvious reason: generations of Christians, stretching back into Bible times, have always affirmed that while God is worthy, we are not. Nevertheless, it was the apostle Paul—a man deeply conscious of both his own unworthiness and the wonder of God’s grace and mercy—who urged his fellow Christians to live in a way that is worthy.

So these pages are about being “worthy” of the gospel—an exhortation Paul gave to some of his favorite fellow-believers in the church at Philippi.

In writing this book I have frequently found myself asking, “Since Paul urges his correspondents to ‘live lives worthy of the gospel,’ does he explain what this means and how it happens?” If we meditate on what he says, we will discover that—sometimes in low-key ways—he explains more fully what his exhortation means, how he experienced its fulfillment himself, and how we can as well.

So while Worthy is not meant to be an exposition of the letter to the Philippians, we will regularly find ourselves reflecting on what Paul says there. In fact, at the time he wrote, urging Christians to be worthy of the gospel seems to have been a special burden on his heart. He also mentioned it in his letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians, written around the same time. And he had already emphasized it in his first letter to the Thessalonians.

So, clearly this was not an incidental or a peripheral matter to him. Perhaps he knew that being worthy had also been a burden on his Savior’s heart for his disciples. For did he not say: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. . . . And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37–38)?

So being worthy turns out to be the sure mark of Jesus’s disciples. True, at first sight Paul’s words “only let your manner of life be worthy” might seem to suggest that it is incidental. But it isn’t a casual afterthought in Paul’s mind. In fact, as we will see, he gives it the highest priority.

I wonder if you would agree with me when I say that I don’t think Christians give it the same priority today. It is just possible that you have never heard a sermon or a lesson on Paul’s words, and even less likely that you have read a book (even a short one like this!) on being worthy.

But that surely means it is all the more important that we hear what Paul says.

Worthy is part of a short series of books devised by Michael Reeves on the basis of Paul’s words in Philippians 1:27–2:3. Worthy both introduces and summarizes their main theme. I am grateful for the invitation to contribute to the series, and I hope this volume will serve as an encouragement to you to read the other three. More than that, I hope it will remind you of an exhortation that has too often been forgotten.

1

Be Worthy

A Forgotten Calling?

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27).

That word “only” might deceive us into thinking this is a casual statement, like “Wait for me, I’ll only be a minute or two.”

But, in fact, it is the reverse. There is nothing casual here. When Paul says “only,” he uses the Greek word monon. Even if you have no knowledge of Greek, you can probably guess its meaning. “Only” here means “one and only,” “the one thing needful.” “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” means this is a nonnegotiable.

Yet we rarely, if ever, use this language today. When did you last hear a Christian friend’s life described as “worthy of the gospel”? Chances are the answer is “not very often,” and more likely “never.” To “live worthy of the gospel of Christ” does not rank high on the priority lists of the twenty-first-century church. But Paul placed it high on his priority list. That is why he underlines it for the churches in Ephesus, Colossae, and Thessalonica, as well as Philippi.1

Why a Forgotten Calling?

So why has Paul’s exhortation (and his way of thinking about the Christian life) dropped out of fashion when he obviously thought it was so important?

No doubt one reason is that we are (rightly) allergic to the idea that anyone could be worthy before God. We are all like the Roman centurion who said, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (Luke 7:6), and like the prodigal son, who confessed, “I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21). And isn’t Paul’s whole point in Romans 1:18–3:20 to argue us into a corner, where we are forced to admit our unworthiness? Every mouth is shut in the presence of the holy God of heaven because we are all guilty, all unworthy (Rom. 3:19–20). We can only say with the dying Martin Luther: “We are beggars. This is true.” Our hymnbooks (or overhead screens, for that matter) never teach us to sing, “I am worthy, I am worthy”—only “Thou art worthy, thou art worthy, O Lord.”

So the gospel teaches us we are unworthy. We are saved by grace, not by worth.

Yet Paul prioritized our responsibility to live in a worthy manner. Why, then, are we reluctant to take his words at face value?

A Latent Fear of Legalism?

Another part of the answer is the fear we have that any exhortation to be worthy of the gospel is by definition legalism, or at least likely to lead to it. But if so, why did Paul, the apostle of grace, say this?

In recent years, grace has often been given a headline role in teaching and preaching, perhaps especially among younger evangelical preachers who have come to feel that too many Christians are prone to all kinds of legalism. There is too much of the atmosphere of “do” and “don’t.”

Certainly too many Christians have suffered from a “conditional” sense of acceptance with God—as though his love for us is ultimately dependent on how well we perform. God then becomes like a schoolmaster to be pleased by a satisfactory performance, or a policeman who makes sure we are keeping the laws, whereas the gospel is about his grace, because it comes from “the God of all grace” (1 Pet. 5:10).

There is certainly something important in this emphasis. For since Eden we have all been legalists by nature. The assumption that somehow or another we have to do something to earn our way into God’s favor is the default position of the human heart. That is why it is the characteristic most world religions have in common.

So the gospel tells us to bathe in God’s grace.

But Paul well knew that emphasizing God’s grace in Christ in reaction to legalism is not necessarily the same thing as understanding the grace of God in Christ.