He also wanted them to know that his being in jail might bring about his death, but if it did, they were not to let it shake their faith in the Lord Jesus.
He did not want them to feel sorry for him or for themselves, because Paul let it be known that for him “TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN.”
They were not to allow his death or anything else stop them from pressing forward in the Christian life.
Illus: In Columbia, South Carolina, there was a church where the pastor spent many years laboring for the Lord. Through his burden for souls, the church grew from a handful of people to running over six hundred in attendance. Then two things happened to this church:
(1) The pastor died unexpectedly, which left the congregation in deep sorrow.
(2) A new pastor was called in to fill the vacancy. Everything went great for a while, then he got into an immoral situation with a woman in the church.
After two devastating things happening to this church that had over six hundred in attendance, it has now dwindled down to a handful of people.
This sad story is something that has happened to many churches in other cities in this nation. As a church, we have to be ready to FACE TOUGH TIMES!
Illus: Listen, a good strong church is like the old Timex watch, “They can take a licking and keep on ticking!”
This is what Paul desired the church in Philippi to do.
The church in Philippi was a strong church, you will see that as we continue to study the book of Philippians. But Paul knew the greatest threat in the church was not on the OUTSIDE, but on the INSIDE!
Illus: That’s like a boxer who knows he is fighting an opponent who has a strong RIGHT HOOK and he keeps looking for it and his opponent hits him with a strong LEFT JAB.
Most churches suffer defeat from WITHIN, not from WITHOUT! WHY? The devil is always using someone to sow DISCORD AMONG THE BRETHREN to bring about DIVISION.
But you would be surprised how ignorant many Christians are when it comes to how the devil works.
For example, they can hear someone gossiping or bellyaching and they will think nothing of it. It never crosses their minds that Satan is using that person to try and sow some DISCORD among the brethren.
In this passage of scripture, Paul shows the Philippian church how they can protect themselves and have unity in the church.
He does this in chapter 2, and I hope you will be here for every sermon as we talk about the subject, “HOW CAN WE HAVE UNITY?”
Illus: Some churches call their church “Unity … Church”. But hanging a sign outside with that name does not mean that a church will have unity. A church having the name “Faith …. Church” doesn’t mean their church has faith, or “ Charity …. church” doesn’t mean they have love.
God’s Word shows us how we can have UNITY among the brethren. Paul lists seven things we want to go over briefly, such as:
I. WE MUST HAVE CONSOLATION
Look at verse 1, we read, “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ…”
Look at the word “consolation”, this is the word “paraklesis” which means encouragement, comfort and strengthening.
Notice, this passage starts off with an “If”. That is, if you do not have CONSOLATION, encouragement, comfort and strengthening in Christ”, there is no need to go any further.
Illus: It is kind of like playing baseball. If you hit the ball and do not tag first base, there is no need to tag 2nd, 3rd, and home plate. And if you do not have Christians in the church trying to:
• Console each other
• Comfort each other
• Encourage each other
• Strengthen each other
The church will not go any further.
HOW CAN WE DO THIS?
We can only do this through Christ. Notice, the scripture says, “Consolation in Christ.”
That is exactly what He would do if He was here, and that is exactly what He expects us to do.
But also-
II. WE MUST HAVE LOVE
Look at verse 1 again, we read, “If there therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love….”
The word “Love” here is the Greek word “agape”.
Folks today have some weird ideas about love.
Illus: They make us think of some of the young folks who are madly in love with someone this week, but the next week they can not stand to look at them.
There are folks who claim to love the Lord today, but next week they put NASCAR, baseball, football and soccer ahead of the Lord. There is something seriously wrong with this kind of love.
This is the kind of love the world has, but the purest form of love is “agape” love. It is a selfless and sacrificial love.
This is the kind of love that God loves us with.
For example, agape love:
• Loves a person that does not deserve to be loved
• Loves a person who is unworthy of love
The love that we see among many Christians today is not an agape love, but a worldly love. Those of the world do not know a thing about agape love.
Illus: Do you ever hear some of the television programs that go off the air and they say, “I love you” or “We love you”. Listen, how can they love us when they do not even know us?
In order to love someone you have to know them. This is why you can not get many to attend church, pray, witness or read their Bible - they do not know God. They may claim they do, but their actions say they do not.
Illus: Have you heard the story of the girl that was on a blind date? After she met him for the first time, he asked her what she enjoyed doing for a hobby and she said, “Reading”. She said, “In fact, I am reading a book right now and the author has the same name you have. But I must confess it is one boring book.” She said, “What do you enjoy doing for your hobby?” and he said, “Writing, I am an author, and the boring book you are reading is a book that I wrote.” She was embarrassed, but she went home and started reading the book after meeting the author, and it came alive to her.
The reason many people have to be pumped and primed is because they really do not know the author of this Book (the Bible).
Many do not know anything about the agape love of God. The only kind of love they know is:
• You scratch my back and I will scratch yours
• You say nice things to me and I will say nice things to you
• You look out for me and I will look out for you
• You treat me well and I will treat you well
Listen, this is not LOVE, this is an AGREEMENT!
God loved us when we did not love HIM, and for the church to have unity, we have to love each other with AGAPE LOVE!
III. WE MUST HAVE FELLOWSHIP
Look at verse 1 again, we read, “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit…”
Notice the word “If” again. If we are going to have unity in the church, we must have fellowship in the spirit.
When God saves us, the Holy spirit does two things in our life immediately after we are saved.
(1) He enters our life to guide us into all truth
(2) He enters our life to form a spiritual union between believers
We were once joined to the lost world, but now He joins us to the believers and we all have that same determination and goal, to strengthen each other and to reach a lost world.
III. WE MUST HAVE COMPASSION
Look at verse 1, we read, “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,”
“Bowels and Mercies” speaks of compassion. Compassion is the driving force that motivates us to do the things we should do. Without compassion:
• We will not love the unlovable
• We will not shed any tears
• We will not put an arm around the shoulder
• We will not witness
• We will not give to foreign missions
• We will not give to the needy
Without compassion you will only have the sharing of bad news, gossip, rumors and envy.
Look at Galatians 6:2, we read, “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Look at 1 Peter 3:8, we read, “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.”
If we are going to have UNITY in the church, we must have Christians that are compassionate. But also-
V. WE MUST HAVE JOY
Look at verse 2, we read, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
Paul said his joy in Christ would be fulfilled when the Philippian church had the joy of Christ. But their joy can only exist if they have unity in the church.
Notice, all four of these things are presented to us with an “If”.
• Consolation
• Love
• Fellowship
• Compassion
But notice this, when it comes to JOY, it does not start with an “If”, because if you have these four things the church WILL HAVE JOY.
While all four of the things we have talked about came with an “If”, the next three things he talks to us about do not have an “If” in front of them, because as we do these four thing we will automatically have the next three.
You see, we can not build a life of JOY by making others MISERABLE!
The most miserable people in any church are those who do not do the FOUR things we have talked about. They are miserable and they spend their lives trying to make life rough for everyone else.
For a church to have UNITY, we have to have Consolation, Love, Fellowship, and Compassion. When a church has these things, there is no “if” about it, they will have JOY!
VI. WE MUST HAVE HUMILITY
Look at verse 3, we read, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
Notice, in this verse Paul talks about “Strife or Vainglory”.
When people think they are better than someone else:
• They do not care who they hurt
• They do not care whose reputation they destroy
• They do not care who they step on
They only care about themselves, and they figure they are better than anyone and NO ONE ELSE COUNTS.
They do not care if they split the church wide open and bring disgrace to the name of the Lord. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES!
Humility is to offer yourself as lowly and submissive before the Lord and others.
VII. WE MUST HAVE CONTROL
Look at verse 4, we read, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
Proud people are OUT OF CONTROL, they can only think about themselves.
But the Word of God says we are to THINK OF GOD AND OTHERS.
Conclusion:
If we are going to have UNITY in the church:
I. WE MUST HAVE CONSOLATION
II. WE MUST HAVE LOVE
III. WE MUST HAVE FELLOWSHIP
IV. WE MUST HAVE COMPASSION
V. WE MUST HAVE JOY
VI. WE MUST HAVE HUMILITY
VII. WE MUST HAVE CONTROL
