CHRISTIAN UNITY
PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4
01/25/95
You all remember the show that had Mr. Professor on it or was it Mr. Wizard, I don’t know. Anyway one of those shows had this guy on it who took a glass beaker with which had a small neck, and then it came down and enlarged to about seven inches or so below the neck. The guy took this beaker and began to use it as a hammer, driving this nail into a board. It was amazing that the glass did not break at all as he pounded in the nail.
The glass was so tempered that the beaker would not break. The man then took a small steel marble of bearing about the size of a pea and holding it at the neck of the beaker dropped it inside. When it hit the bottom the glass shattered.
This is kind of like the Church of the Lord Jesus. When perfectly united and tempered together in love it can with stand the heaviest of blows for the outside. But just a small force from the inside can wreck havoc on it. Most local churches are destroyed not from without but from within.
And this as we shall see was a concern of Paul’s toward the Philippian church. And it is still a concern of any pastor who loves his church. The church must be unified. The unity of the believer is as we shall see of the utmost importance.
Let’s turn to our verse today as we look at Christian Unity. Philippians chapter 2 verse 1-4;
"Therefore if there is any con-sol-a-tion in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."
Here Paul address the need for Christian unity. If you look at the passage you will notice three graces which God gives to us that will work towards that unity. Verse 2 basically speaks of the oneness of the believers in Christ. Verse 3 speaks of the lowliness which the believer is to have if there are any hopes of unity. And verse 4 speaks of the helpfulness which believers are to have toward one another.
We need to realize that the church of Christ is to be firs of all theocratic. Which is to say that we are to be run by God. Christ is head of the church, and we are all under Christ. Second of all the church to be socialist in nature. Now growing up as we did in the cold war we tend to view socialism as an evil thing, when actually that is what Christ as in mind for the church.
Socialism basically states that all work together for the good of the whole. And that is how it is to be in the church. We are all part of the body of Christ, and as parts of that we should work toward that good of that body. We should work toward that good of all, for the glory of Christ.
We see how in the secular world that concept does not work out to well because of greed, pride, those who are power hungry. And if you look at the church, that which prevent the church from attaining unity is basically those same things. In others words sin.
There are four things worth noting in this verse which I would like to point out to you.
The first is in this passage we can see Paul’s desire for unity. He really want these people to be unified for a common cause, that of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he desires this unity for them because he loves them. And because he does love them he wants them to "fulfill his joy" by being united.
It is interesting to notice that Paul’s joy did depend on his own circumstances, but on the circumstances of others. Paul joy was found in seeing these people grow spiritually. His joy was in seeing them be unified for Christ, in working together for the gospel.
Think of our own lives. Think of how when something good happens to someone we love, we are filled with joy. Well that is how it is with Paul, he is filled with joy, at seeing something good happen to these people whom he loves. And that good thing is to see them unified for Christ.
We can notice from this book that the Paul had many joys toward the Philippian people. He was filled with joy when he prayed for them because of how much they loved Paul, he was filled with joy because of the peoples support of Paul, yet with the joy he felt toward them he still felt something was missing.
So he calls on them to "fulfill" his joy. Make his joy complete. And that which would complete his joy was seeing them grow in unity.
Another reason Paul desires this unity, is because it is what Christ desires, and Paul desires the thing of his master. If you look at the teachings of Christ is the gospel He tells us over and over that we must be unified. That we must be a people separate from the world. WE are his body, we are his bridesmaid, He is the vine and we are the branches, all these things point to the fact that we are to be united for a common cause, and the common cause is the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Notice to that in his desire for unity Paul shows how important it is by repeating the same thought three times in one verse, verse 2. "fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."
He states you are to have the same mind, that is the mind of Christ, He states that you are to have the same love, again the love of Christ, and the same purpose, and again the purpose is to see Christ glorified to see other brought into the kingdom of God.
From this one verse you see the importance which Paul places on Christian unity.
The second thing I want to point out in this verse is that we need to notice the motive we have which compel us to unity. And as we shall see they are all phrased in question form. They come from the first verse of our passage.
Notice the first part of verse one, "If there is any con-sol-a-tion in Christ?" Now consolation here in this verse means encouragement. So what Paul is asking is "Look, If you have any encouragement in Christ, then should be united". You should be one in the Lord. And it is a rhetorical question. Paul knows that they have the indwelling of Christ, he knows that they are Christian. So he is saying if you do have the indwelling Christ, why aren’t you working together? One should not be without the other.
Then Paul asks the next question, which is again rhetorical. "If you have any comfort in love". Do you have the comfort of Christian love? If you do, then why aren’t you living in unity?
Let me ask you, does hate bring comfort? Does jealousy bring comfort? Does meanness bring comfort? No of course not. The love of Christ is what brings comfort. And what Paul is saying, if you have the love of Christ, the only thing which can bring real comfort, and I know you do, then why is there not unity? How can you claim the love of Christ and not be of one mind, not be one purpose, not be of one love?
If you think about it unity can only be accomplished by a common love. That love of course should be for Christ. Unity cannot happen without love. In marriage it is the love for each other. When people fight wars there is a unity among soldiers because of the love for their country, if they do not have this love they do not make very good soldiers. Love will break down barriers, that stand in the way of unity.
When writing this sermon I though of Cybrian, the gentlemen from Kenya who was with us for a week this past year. I think of how different we were. We come from different countries, different cultures, different church backgrounds, we are even different colors. But we are untied in a common love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was that love for Christ that over came everything else. We stood and still stand united in Christ.
The third question Paul asks is "If you have any fellowship with the Spirit of God? then how can you not have unity?. He is saying if you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling inside of you, how can you not get along with someone else who has the Spirit of God dwelling in them. If you have the same Spirit in all of you, how come there is not unity. How come there is not one purpose among you? How come there is not one mind among you? How come there is not one love among you if you have the same Spirit?
Listen to Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 12:4-12; "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ."
What Paul is saying here is basically what he is saying in Philippians. It is the same Spirit that is at work in each one of you, so how come you are not acting like it? Know the Spirit gives different gifts to different people, but He is going to work those gifts in each person in a way that shows the unity of the Spirit, because we are as Paul says, "all members of the one body, being many, are one body, so also in Christ."
This verse also shows that we are not all mindless robots, Unity does not mean we all act the same, that we all look the same, and that there well not be at times difference of opinions. But unity means that we will allow the Holy Spirit to work in us for the glory of Christ.
The last question Paul asks here is "If there is any affection or mercy?" Affection here differs from love in that here Paul speaks of your feelings, our emotions. What he is asking is that if you have common feelings for each other common mercy for each other. Feelings which come from the Lord and mercy which comes from the Lord then why are you not united. If you are all imitating the Lord then how come you are not pulling together. If you are all striving to act like the Lord then why is there not a common a love among you, and common mind.
So Paul asks these questions to get those Philippian people to show their love and compassion to each other. If these things are the things inside them then let them out. He basically states that if the Spiritual truths are alive in each one of you then verify them with your actions. If these things are in you then
"Fulfill my joy" by letting them show.
The third thing in this passage that I want to point out is that Unity implies humility. Pride, and conceit will lead to strife and debate. This is made very clear in verse 3;
"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."
As I said unity cannot be achieved without lowliness. This is why social is such a failure in the secular world. To achieve the oneness and unity the Bible speaks of can only be done buy us getting rid of any pride we might have.
We need to always remember the words of our Lord Jesus who said, "I am meek and lowly in heart". Here we see no sense of pride in the only person who ever lived who had the right to be boastful. And if Christ did not boast, what do any of us have to boast about, other then Christ.
Christ also told us, "blessed are the poor in Spirit". This the first beatitude. Christ states that those who are not prideful will be blessed.
We need to realize that selfish ambition, that is always wanting our own way is one of the works
of the flesh. Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
I just want to point out that selfish ambitions and pride is to God just as serious as murder, adultery, and idolatry. We need to ask ourselves when we are being argumentative, do I want my idea preached or the gospel preached.
True humility implies unselfishness. I look at this verse and cannot help noticing the last line, "let each esteem others better then ourselves". We live in a society which stress that everyone should be looked at as being equal, and I would agree with that, socially every one should be equal. But scripture goes one step past, it teaches we should look at others better then ourselves. What this teaches is simply we need to put others before ourselves. Think of others before we think of ourselves. Never mind what I think is best, what do others think is best. This is true humility.
The final thing I wish to point out to you is what verse 4 implies concerning unity. And that is as we noted in the beginning of this sermon, helpfulness. Paul calls on the Philippian people to look out for others interests as well as our own. But what does this mean.
Well first of all we need to look out for the good of each other. If we see something that can help another we need to act on it.
We need to rejoice with other in time of victory and joy. We need to weep with others when they are feeling sad.
Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."
We need to help each other out when we see a brother or sister in need.
1 John 3:17-18 "But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."
We need to encourage one another when ever possible. Built each other up, not tear each other down.
These are the things which show that we are looking out for the interest of others.
So as we come to a conclusion I think we need to ask ourselves the same questions Paul asks. "If I have the encouragement of Christ, If I have the comfort of love, If I have the fellowship with the Holy Spirit, if I have affection and mercy of Christ" Should I not be of one mind with other believers.
If I have these things shouldn’t I be working with others for a common purpose and that is to see Christ glorified, to see others won for the Lord Jesus. If I have all this good stuff on the inside shouldn’t I be showing it on the outside?
May I just say that as a church since I have been here there as been a sense of unity, we are working together to see Christ glorified, and as your pastor I have been filled with joy at how well we have worked together.
But I say with Paul "fulfill my joy". We need to go beyond what we have done already. We need not only be unified within this Church building but unified outside it’s walls. We need to treat each and every Christian brother or sister as if they were better then we are. And that means those Christians who are family members, are spouses, our friends, those we may not care for.
It means we are to apply all those things I have spoken about today to every Christian we know, regardless of what we may think of them. It means that we need to put away our pride. It means that we realize that we can not always have our own way. And I will tell you that can be hard thing to do, but if we fail to do this, there can never be the unity here which God desires us to have.
SHALL WE PRAY
