Surrendering to God’s grace in Christ produces in us an unusual reaction to opposition and our marginalized position in society. Grace makes us confident and humble at the same time.

I would say: we are living worthy of the gospel when we are striving for the faith of the gospel with fearlessness and unity. Or: the mark of living worthily of the gospel is a unified, fearless striving for the faith of the gospel.

Paul is actually describing Christians as having “counter-citizenship.” This would have been revolutionary to the church in the Roman colony of Philippi who so prized their Roman citizenship.

Do you see what Paul is showing us? Whatever your “For me, to live” is whether it’s family, friends, career, spouse, children, whatever it is. It had better be good, because when the tragedies of life come and go after your bottom line, you either utterly collapse, or you have to convert to a new bottom line.

And yet, Paul is unshaken, unstirred. He’s doesn’t fume or fuss. He simply says, “So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!”