Technicolor Joy:
Philippians 2:1-2
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
6-11-2023
Narcissus
The story is told that Echo, a wood nymph, fell in love with a Narcissus. She followed him through the woods but could only repeat back what he said to her. He rejected her and she retreated to the woods and shrank away until only her voice could be heard bouncing off the rocks.
His mother was so angry that she led him to the Stygian River. He saw his reflection in the water and fell in love with it. His obsession with his own beauty was so great that he stopped eating and drinking just to continue looking at his reflection.
His obsession bordered on madness and he wasted away while forever staring at his own beauty.
This is where we get the term narcissism from - a preoccupation with self that keeps the person from ever having real relationships with others.
This preoccupation with self is something that can cause division and conflict in churches and Paul is going to address it forcefully in this morning’s verses.
Review
Last week, we saw Paul turn his attention from his own situation to the Philippians.
He encouraged them to live a life worthy of the Gospel. They were to remember where their citizenship really was, in heaven, not Rome, and live in such a way that those around them would see the Gospel in action.
They were to do that by consistently being united and standing firm as one and striving side by side for the sake of the Gospel.
They were not to be afraid of those pagans who opposed them because that was a sign to them that they were on the right path and to the enemies that they were doomed for destruction.
Then Paul highlights two gifts that God had given to the Philippians. First, the gift of faith to believe in Jesus and then the grace of suffering to make them more like Jesus.
Later in this letter, we are going to learn that there were two women in the church at Philippi that were in conflict and the church was taking sides.
Paul isn’t going to allow this conflict to fester and he proactively gives them the secret to overcoming conflict and selfishness - a unity borne out of humility.
Turn to Philippians 2.
Prayer.
Basis for Unity
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete”
Some of your translations don’t have the “therefore” but it is there in the Greek.
These four verses are one long sentence in the Greek and the main clause is “make my joy complete.”
But first, Paul begins with four motivations for unity.
The “ifs” Paul uses are not how we use the word “if” in English. It makes more sense to us if we substitute the word “since” or “because.”
These act as rhetorical questions. Paul knows that the Philippians know these things but he wants to remind them what the basis for unity really rests on.
Encouragement from being united to Christ
Paul isn’t questioning this, he’s saying, “I know that you have experienced the encouragement that comes from being in Christ.”
This word means to “come alongside.” In English, it literally means to “put courage into someone.”
Where do you look when you are running out of courage? Do you know the encouragement of Christ in your life?
Comfort of his love
Do you know the comfort/consolation of the love of God in Christ? Does the fact that God cannot love you more than He does and will never love you less than He does bring you peace?
This is not only the comfort that God gives us but that we, in turn, give to each other.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor 1:43-5)
When we are able to rest in God’s love for us then we are able to love others well.
Any common sharing in the Spirit
This is a word we have seen before. In chapter one, it’s translated as “partnership.” It’s the Greek word for “fellowship.”
When we become Christians, we are born into a new family, a spiritual family, that consists of brothers and sisters, not blood-related but related by the new birth.
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ…” (I John 1:3)
Notice the allusion to the Trinity. Paul will soon make the case for unity and the perfect example of unity is the Trinity, a triunity of unity.
Comfort from the Father
Encouragement from the Son, Jesus
Fellowship through the Spirit
Paul ends his first letter to the church at Corinth with the same thought:
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (I Cor 13:14)
Our brothers and sisters may have different opinions or different interests in sports or music, but our common love for Jesus is what brings us together.
If any tenderness and compassion
In Greek, what we would call the heart, the seat of our emotions, was actually in the bowels. That’s the word for tenderness - a heart where kindness and mercy reside.
Compassion is the feeling of mercy that we feel toward someone who is suffering.
We have received compassion and mercy from God. Therefore, we can freely share that compassion with others.
Command of Unity
I was going to remind you of the difference between joy and happiness but I thought I’d let three players from the Oklahoma softball team do that for me.
[YouTube - Eyes Up]
Paul knows that this church is a solid church. He doesn’t have to remind them about sound doctrine. He is willing to fight for their joy in the midst of internal conflict.
He is saying, “I love you guys. It gives me joy when I pray for you. Make me even happier by ruthlessly pursuing unity with the church body.”
Paul gives four ways that unity manifests itself in the body of Christ.
“ by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
Like-minded
This means to think the same thing. This is not uniformity, where everyone thinks exactly alike. That’s a cult. It’s a mindset, an attitude.
Think of Matthew who was a tax collector and Simon the Zealot. Jesus chose both of these men for his team of twelve. They couldn’t have been more different. Simon would consider Matthew a sell-out to the Romans and Matthew would consider Simon a terrorist! But, we are never told of any conflict between them because they had the same attitude toward Jesus and His mission.
Thinking correctly is important to unity.
Same love
But it’s not just about your mind. It’s also a heart issue.
“We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” (I John 3:14)
As we grow in our love for Jesus, our love for others will grow as well and that will lead to unity.
One in Spirit
This can be translated as “of one accord” or “souls the beat together.”
This can only be a work of the Holy Spirit that knits our souls together in Christian unity.
Of one mind
This is very similar to being like-minded but this means one-minded.
This is a picture of being united by one purpose, one focus, and one mission.
I read a story about a church in England that had been looking for a pastor. They ended up with two candidates and the members couldn’t decide.
They split into two groups, each with their own candidate.
On a Sunday morning, both were sent into the pulpit and proceeded to try to shout the other down. The two groups sang different hymns at the top of their lungs. It was total bedlam. Finally, a deacon called the police who arrived and told everyone to go home.
Do you know how I know about this story? It was in the paper! This church’s disunity gave the unbelievers around them another reason not to consider the claims of Jesus.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians:
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:3-6)
Jesus prayed:
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ( John 17:20-23)
So how do we do this? What are some practical expressions of this unity?
Expressions of Unity
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…”
Paul begins with the word “nothing,” which in Greek means NOTHING!
Your translation may say “strife.” This word meant the self-seeking pursuit of political office by unethical means. This is the climbing of the ladder without any thought as to who gets hurt.
Paul has already used this term to describe the preachers in Philippi who are more interested in building their own platform and seeking fame than the proclamation of the Gospel.
It denotes a zealous lust for power and preeminence.
"Vain conceit” was translated in the King James as “empty glory.” Having an exaggerated view of self.
The writer Oscar Wilde once was asked at customs if he had anything to declare. He answered, “Only my genius.”
Jeremy Richmond story
John Calvin wrote that these two mindsets were the most dangerous pests for disturbing the church.
James wrote of the dangers of these attitudes:
“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:16)
What’s the antidote to this? A humility that leads to unity.
In that culture, especially by the Romans, this trait was viewed negatively as cowardice. But, to the Christian, it’s the opposite of arrogance and pride. It’s not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.
I read recently about a man that was voted the most humble person in the church. They had a party for him and then gave him a medal.
The next week, he wore the medal to church and they took it away from him!
The theologian Ray Stevens wrote a song about humility in the 1970s that went like this:
“O Lord, it’s hard to be humble / when you’re perfect in every way / I can’t wait to look in the mirror / I get better looking each day / to know me is to love me / I must be one heck of a man / O Lord, it’s hard to be humble but I’m doing the best that I can.”
The word humble means “a sense of modesty, without arrogance, the opposite of pride.” It produces a correct view of ourselves, our relation to Christ, and others.
Kyle Snodgrass writes,
“An understanding of God’s work is always an attack on the ego, not to obliterate or humiliate the self, but to bring into relation with God and redirect its interests. In losing life we find it.”
“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (I Peter 5:5-6)
Peter commands his readers to clothe themselves in humility. This is a beautiful word picture of a person who wears a white apron signifying his status as a servant.
We should imitate Jesus in our humble service toward one another, like when He put on the towel and washed His disciple's feet.
When Illinois first made personalized license plates available, thousands of requests came in for #1. The person in charge knew that not everyone could have that license plate, so he decided to give it to himself!
Peter makes the case that since God opposes the proud, the most logical thing to do is to humble ourselves under God’s mighty right hand.
God’s “mighty right hand” is a way of saying that God controls the destinies of men. It would have brought to mind events like the deliverance out of Egypt and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We can humble ourselves because we stand under the protection of God and we can live with utter dependence on His grace and mercy.
Humbling yourself under other authorities could put you in a position to be hurt or taken advantage of.
But not with God! You can submit, that what the word “under” means in this verse, to God because He is trustworthy!
The prophet Micah wrote:
“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
Peter learned through Jesus’s example that humiliation leads to exaltation.
If you submit to God, if you trust Him completely with your life, then the promise is that God will exalt you. This means to raise in dignity, honor, and happiness.
This will happen in “due time,” the right time, God’s timing in your life.
We live in a culture that is obsessed with promoting ourselves, and our brand and exalting ourselves above others.
Google reports that there were 24 billion selfies taken last year and more people died taking selfies than in shark attacks!
But we are not called to exalt ourselves. In fact, we are called to die to ourselves.
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)
Charles Spurgeon once said:
“If you are willing to be nothing, God will make something of you. The way to the top of the ladder is to begin at the lowest round. In fact, in the church of God, the way up is to go down; but he who is ambitious to be at the top will find himself before long at the bottom.”
D.L. Moody was one of the most famous evangelists in the late 1800s. People came from all over the world to his Bible Conference. One year a large group of pastors from Europe attended and, as was the custom there, left their shoes outside the doors of the dorm they were staying in to be shined. They assumed the servants would take care of the shoes. But there were no servants.
Moody realized what happened and quietly took up all the shoes and shined them and put them back out without saying a word. No one would have even known he had shined them if he hadn’t been interrupted by a friend in the middle of his secret mission.
We are to take our cue from John the Baptist. He was asked whether it bothered him that people were flocking to Jesus and he responded, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
Jonathan Edwards wrote,
“Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility.”
In his book, “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis calls pride the great sin:
“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free, which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else…
If anyone would like to acquire humility I can tell him the first step. The first step is to realize that one is proud…If you think you are not conceited, it means that you are very conceited indeed.”
You’ll know that you’re making progress in this area when you begin to think less of your own abilities and more of your imperfections.
John Stott wrote: “At every stage in our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.”
One pastor suggests some searching questions that each of us should ask…
Do I love to argue too much?
Do I worry whether others recognize my contributions?
Am I secretly envious of others?
Do I sometimes rejoice at the misfortunes of others?
Am I quick to criticize those who are different from me?
How much time do I spend talking about myself?
Do I do more talking than listening?
Not only are we to be humble but we are also to be helpful.
“not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
The word “look” is the word “scope out.” Paul is not saying to forget your needs and only focus on others.
In chapter two, Paul will go on to give us three examples of this attitude that we will study in the coming weeks:
Jesus
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:6-8)
Timothy
“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 2:19-21)
Epaphoditus
“So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.” (Phil 2:29-30)
We have to be proactive in our pursuit of thinking of others. It doesn’t have to be extravagant.
Beth Murphy texts Maxine and me every morning an encouragement from the Scriptures and reminds us that she is praying for us.
This past week, Debra Henrich’s sprained her knee. Several people have taken her food, helped clean her house, and tend her garden.
We need to celebrate each other and spur one another on to love and good deeds.
I love this picture of Jamie Lee Curtis celebrating Michelle Yeoh’s Golden Globe win for the movie “Everything, Everywhere All at Once.”
When was the last time you celebrated a friend like that?
James Boice tells of a Christian who lived in China. He was a poor rice farmer, and his fields lay high on a mountain. Every day he pumped water into the paddies of new rice, and every morning he returned to find that a neighbor who lived down the hill had opened the dikes surrounding the Christian's field to let the water fill his own.
For a while, the Christian ignored the injustice, but at last, he became desperate. He met and prayed with other Christians and came up with this solution. the next day the Christian farmer rose early in the morning and first filled his neighbor's fields; then he attended to his own.
The neighbor subsequently became a Christian, his unbelief overcome by a genuine demonstration of a Christian's humility and Christlike character.
We watched the docu-series “A Small Light” about Meip and Jan Gies who hid the Franks and others during WWII and rescued Anne Frank’s diary.
In her later years, she lived to be 100 years old, she would end her speeches with this quote:
"But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager, can within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room"
Ending Video: Make us One (KN)
