Philippians 1:27-2:11 Unity Through Humility

Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan, where you can grow in faith, community, and service.

Today's message is by Elder Rob Knold and is titled, Unity Through Humility. If you'd like more information about Recast, please visit us online at recastchurch .com.

Here's Rob now. Good morning.

I'm Rob Knold, and I'm an elder here at Recast Church. And I just want to welcome you to Recast this morning. Don is out.

Kyle is out today. And so I'll be preaching. And Zach in the front here is another elder at the church.

And it's my privilege to preach this morning. I want to make a few announcements as we welcome you this morning.

You should have received this worship folder on your way in. In here, there are announcements, a few miscellaneous announcements.

Feel free to check that out just to find out what's going on. Secondly, inside this worship folder, you'll see this connection card.

Feel free to fill that out. If you're new to Recast, we encourage you to fill that out and drop it off in the black box and pick up a mug.

There's a complimentary mug on us. We want you to have that and drink a lot of coffee this morning, especially.

You can also put down prayer requests. It's a great way to just connect. There's a few checkboxes. The elders would pray for any prayer requests that you put down in here each week.

So we'd encourage you to do that. And then last but not least, envelope. If you want to give, you can use this giving envelope and drop it in the black box in the back as well.

We do not pass a plate. We want your giving to be between you and God. So give as you feel led. And that is it for my brief announcements this morning.

It's Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, all you fathers. It's a good day to be a father.

You know what I mean? I hope that you feel honored and I hope that you're able to honor your father in some special way.

I think it's a scriptural command to honor your father and your mother. And we should do that.

We should do that every day. I mean, that should be a part of our life. But today especially is a day set aside to honor fathers.

And I would just encourage you to just do something personal and meaningful to your dad and just show them that you love them and you honor them.

So I hope you're able to do that today. So speaking of fathers and families and those things, how are you doing?

How's your family doing today? Everybody getting along real well? No disagreements, no quarrels, no bickering, no fighting?

Then you're not in my family if that's the case. The truth is, actually, it's interesting.

The older I get, the more I think I have stronger opinions about things, and I find more disagreement sometimes within my family, especially my kids as they're getting older.

You know, I used to be able to just kind of, I mean, they just kind of went where I went, but not so much anymore. There's a lot more opinion going on there and a lot more, yeah, just differences.

Let's just be honest. So that's a challenge. Example of that, um, eating.

Where do we eat? My son loves Taco Bell, and if he can eat,

I'm surprised at what he can pack away sometimes at Taco Bell. Unfortunately, it's not too expensive there.

My daughters would just assume not be at Taco Bell. They just, there's not much there that they like, but they, on the other hand, love pasta, and I do not know why they like pasta so much, but they can eat pasta every meal, just pasta.

Like, they think that's the only food group, just eat pasta all day long. And so there's a restaurant called Noodles. Anybody been to Noodles?

It's pretty much pasta. So they love going there. That is where they would choose to go if they could pick a place to eat.

My wife, by the way, totally different. She would love to go to a nice restaurant, quiet atmosphere, ambiance, and just enjoy the conversation and all those things.

And I, on the other hand, I think, I just value efficiency and yummy, tasty food.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Anybody? That's my place right there. That's awesome.

So we all have different opinions, and sure, you know, we can disagree, and sometimes that leads to arguments, but does that mean that you don't have unity just because you have differences in opinion?

Can you still have unity within your family? Can we disagree and still maintain unity? How about unity within the church?

So let's look at the broader family. We're a group of believers, a family here of believers at Recast.

Can we have unity and still disagree? I want to talk about unity real quick.

There's a story I want to share from my personal experience growing up in Korea. My dad was a pastor.

He was a missionary in Korea and pastored a church for a period of eight years. This was a Korean church, and he was in the process of learning the language.

And there were two young men who aspired to full -time service, and they were in the process of being discipled and mentored by my dad.

And I remember them. I had a close relationship with them, with our family. And one of those men, though, was just...didn't

seem to connect as well. And he was gone for long periods of time, wasn't telling where he was, and there was just a lack of communication,

I think, honestly, maybe the biggest problem. And this went on for a period of time, and eventually it got to the point where my dad asked him to leave the church.

And that was huge. I was not aware of all the details as a seven -year -old kid, but he stood up before the church and made a number of accusations, all in Korean.

My dad, I don't think, didn't even understand half of them. And he made a lot of accusations, turned a lot of the church against him, and basically the result was half the church left.

And that was a huge deal, I mean, a huge event. It was not beneficial, it was not glorifying to God, and it was not a good thing.

And I think it's a good illustration of the danger of division within a church, the ugliness of it, and the pain of it.

Today, as we dig into Philippians, we're going to talk about unity.

Paul's going to talk about unity, and we're just going to kind of follow along. And I'm really excited about it.

I think it applies to all of us. I think this is a very applicable and important topic, so I'm excited.

So please turn with me to Philippians 1, verse 27. That's in page 840 in the seatback

Bibles. By the way, feel free to take a copy with you if you want a copy of the ESV Bible.

We want you to have the Word of God, we want you to read it, we encourage that here at Recast. So again,

Philippians 1, verse 27, and we'll read through to chapter 2, verse 11, page 840 in the seatback

Bible. Follow along as I read. 1. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent,

I may hear of you that you're standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation. And that from God.

2. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw

I had and now hear that I still have. 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.

3. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

4. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.

5. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray as the worship team comes to lead us.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for this chance this morning to proclaim your word, to read this passage from Philippians and contemplate and reflect on what it means.

Lord, I pray for our hearts, Lord, that we would just turn to you in worship this morning, that our focus and our attention would be on you,

Lord, not on our problems and the distractions, but that we would just submit those things to you, turn them over to you,

Father, and just give you the glory and the praise and the worship that are due your name.

We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, today as we dig into Philippians, I just want to say that I'm really excited.

This is not a frequent thing I get to do. I think the last time I preached, it may have been about a year ago, and I really look at this as a privilege.

It's an opportunity for me to dig deeper into God's word and to be challenged as well and to bring a message to you.

So I'm just excited to do it. Philippians is a book that God has just really laid on my heart, and I've preached on it in the past.

And so what I'm doing is preaching from a passage that really is continuing on what I've previously covered, but it's been a while.

So I want to set a little context and just do a little brief history and sort of show you the map and then talk about what

Paul is communicating in this letter so far to set the context. So on the map that you see, you can see

Philippi there, and it's on the eastern side of Greece, somewhat close to Turkey.

And this is really an important city. It was actually founded by King Philip II.

This was the Alexander the Great's dad. So this is part of the Greek Empire. He founded this city, and it's about nine miles from the water there.

It's an important traffic area for commerce. But it was a critical city also because when the

Romans conquered this city, it became a part of the Roman Empire, of course, and it became a

Roman colony. The people in the city had citizenship of Roman citizens, so this was a significant thing.

This was a significant city in that time and that age when Paul was alive and traveling and visiting.

So what happened was in the book of Acts, it tells us in Acts 16 that Paul traveled to Philippi, and this was actually the first stop he made in the continent of Europe.

So this is really the entrance point for the gospel into Europe. And if you think about historically what happened with Christianity in Europe, I mean, that's pretty significant.

So this was really the entrance point. Gospel was first preached here. And Paul, it's a very interesting story.

I'd encourage you to read Acts 16 if you have time sometime. Not right now, preferably.

Keep listening. But in Acts 16, it says that Paul went to the city, and there wasn't even a synagogue there, and his practice was to go to the synagogue first.

But there was a group of Jewish people who met outside the city, and they prayed there.

And so Paul went there, and one of the ladies by the name of Lydia, a seller of purple cloth, responded to the gospel message.

She heard what Paul said, and the Holy Spirit pricked her heart, and she responded and believed.

And so Paul went on proclaiming the gospel in the city, got a big following. Some people hated him.

Some people liked him. Eventually, there was this big upheaval and uprising, and Paul is arrested.

He's beaten. He's imprisoned. He's in jail. And then, of course, in the middle of the night, what would you do if you're beaten and jailed?

He's singing praises to God, just rejoicing. And in the middle of the night, there's an earthquake during this worship service in the jail cell.

And earthquake, he's freed. All the prisoners are freed. The jailer is about to kill himself because he knows his life is forfeit anyway.

But Paul and Silas reassure him, hey, we're here. We're all here. Don't kill yourself. And the jailer accepts

Christ, believes and puts his faith, and not just the jailer but his whole family. And so this is really the beginning of the church in Philippi.

These few believers, some others perhaps, maybe Paul may have left a few companions to stay behind and help, but Paul himself and Silas, they moved on.

They went on city to city preaching and evangelizing and getting persecuted pretty much the whole way.

But the church in Philippi stayed there and continued on. Now, fast forward 10 years.

10 years have passed. Paul has traveled on his first missionary journey. He's gone back to Jerusalem with a gift.

He's been arrested. He's been in prison for several years. He's been appealed to Caesar. They've carted him off to Rome.

And now he's in Rome awaiting to stand before Caesar, awaiting for this

Caesar's decision. Is he going to live? Is he going to die? He doesn't know the outcome.

And he's imprisoned in Rome right now writing a letter. And so he's choosing, basically 10 years later, he's choosing to write a letter back to many of the churches he started and Philippi is one of those.

So he authored this letter from jail. And so I just want to now just review the first few verses in this chapter.

It starts off with a typical letter introduction and Paul thanks God for the

Philippians. He's just truly thankful for them. And it goes on to say how much he loves them.

He still has affection, a strong affection for the Philippians in verses 7 and 8 of chapter 1.

And then I think it's really interesting how he just overflows into a prayer for the

Philippians in verses 9 to 11. And maybe in your prayer time,

I would encourage you, think about how prayers are worded in Scripture.

I think it's a great pattern for prayer. If you struggle with, what do I say? How should I say it? I would encourage you to look, this is a great example.

Paul is just passionately praying his heart out for the Philippians and it's right there in verses 9 to 11.

So I'd encourage you to look at that. And then in verses 12 to 26, as you would expect in most letters,

Paul is just kind of giving an update. He's saying, hey, here's how things are going with me. These are the facts.

I'm in prison, but praise God, the gospel is still spreading. And isn't that ironic?

Paul's imprisonment can't even stop the gospel spread. So he's in prison, he's shackled to another guard, and he's got a captive audience.

And those folks are hearing the gospel and the guards turn over and the gospel starts to spread through the palace guard.

And pretty soon, the word of God is spreading despite Paul's imprisonment. And I think that's a testament to the gospel of Christ and the way

God works. Paul goes on to say, and basically

I'm still reviewing here, that he's just rejoicing that the gospel is spreading for whatever reason, and he's committed, whether he lives or dies.

There's some really powerful verses in there in that first chapter. He says, whether I live, whether I die, I just want

God to get the glory and I want the gospel to spread. And so it's a great introduction to this letter.

But as we move into verse 27, which is where we're starting today, there's a major shift in focus.

So Paul, who's been talking about himself, he's been talking about his experiences and what's going on in Rome, he's now shifting over and he's saying, okay,

Philippians, now let's zoom in on you. Let's talk about you. What's going on there in Philippi?

And he's going to give them some commands and some challenges. So the first thing he says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

There's a tall order for you. This is a big challenge. What does the word worthy mean?

It simply means to live in a manner worthy of. And the same word is used in a number of other places.

So Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 4, he says the following, it's very similar.

He says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called.

Same word for worthy there. And he does the same thing in Romans 16 and Colossians 1 and 1

Thessalonians 2. Paul is urging all of these churches to live lives worthy of the gospel, to live lives worthy of their calling.

And that basically means just wherever you go, right? Your daily life.

If you're at work, if you're at home, if you're with your family, with your friends, to live your life out in a way that matches the words you're saying.

Live your life, your conduct, your speech, your actions, really everything should reflect the gospel.

So what is this gospel of Christ? Let's just review that real briefly. And it's interesting just to trace back through the chapter we're in, how many references there are to the gospel.

It seems to be the center of Paul's focus. Look at verse 5, for example.

Paul is thanking God because of the Philippians' partnership in the gospel. In verse 7, it talks about how

Paul is defending and confirming the gospel. He's taking a stand on the gospel. In verse 12, we see that even his imprisonment is advancing the spread of the gospel, as we mentioned earlier.

So the gospel is really woven throughout this whole passage. It's very central, and it's very fundamental to this passage.

And the word gospel, I just want to mention this real quick, comes from a...maybe you're interested in the origin of words. It comes from two words,

God and spell. And when I first heard that, it didn't make much sense to me. But the word God actually means good in Old English.

And the word spell means to tell or give an update or news. So basically, it means good message or good news.

And that is what the word gospel means. And I think the best way to describe the gospel,

I've heard many presentations of it, and maybe you have too. Just to use

Scripture, Romans 3 .23 says very simply, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We all have, you, me, everybody. There's no getting away from it. And Romans 6 .23 expands on that and says, the wages of sin is death.

That's just what we deserve for the sin. The good news comes in in John 3 .16,

says that God so loved us that He sent His only Son to die for us. So that if we would believe in Him, we would not die, we would not perish as our sins deserve and as we deserve, but rather that we would have eternal life.

It's an amazing good news. So that is the gospel in a nutshell. And I encourage you, put your faith in Christ alone, not in other things.

Acts 4 .12 says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Jesus Christ is it. The Bible is very clear on that. He is the answer. You know,

Paul dedicated his life, completely sacrificed himself to this message of the gospel, to spreading the gospel, especially to the

Gentiles. And we're the beneficiaries. Praise God.

So he's now challenging them, though, not just to share the gospel, but to live in a way worthy of it.

And I want to just exhort you guys in this, because when we share the good news or the message of the gospel, but then we don't live in a manner worthy of the gospel, it really undermines the message.

I don't know if you've experienced someone who's saying good things, but their life doesn't match it.

It really undermines that message. So it is critical, okay? It's critical. God desires that our life be lived out in a way that's worthy of the gospel.

Make sure your actions match your words. So Paul goes on to say that whether he comes and he sees the

Philippians in person, and he certainly hopes to do that, he'd love to see them, or whether he stays absent, obviously by necessity, he wants to hear that they are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

And I think this is simply a call to unity. He is exhorting them into a call to unity.

And in fact, he says here, I think it's interesting, he says, stand together and stand strong.

He ties those two thoughts together. And you may have heard the quote, united we stand, divided we fall.

I think it's in a lot of patriotic literature and things, in the founding of our own nation. But it's very true.

A cord of three strands is not easily broken, is another passage that references that.

I want to tell you a story, and this is just an interesting story to illustrate the point. Once there was an old man, he was very ill, and he lay dying on his deathbed.

He had four sons, and they were always fighting with each other. He asked them to come to him in his deathbed.

And when they came, the old man gave them a bundle of sticks. And he said simply, can you break these sticks?

The first son tried to break the bundle, nothing happened. He tried hard, and he finally gave up. Then it was the turn of the second son.

Second son thought it was an easy task. He picks up the sticks. This is no problem. Tries to break them, can't break them.

Third son picks up the bundle, but he can't break them either. Finally, the youngest son, he's really jeering his brothers in his mind.

He's thinking, these guys are incompetent. He thinks he's the most clever. He takes one stick at a time, snap, snap, he breaks them all, right?

Breaks each stick. So the father smiles at all of his sons, and he says, children, do you understand what happened?

It is easy to break the sticks one by one, but when they're bundled together, none of them could break.

None of you could break them. In the same way, you four brothers should always be together. No one will be able to hurt you then.

So the four brothers realized that their dad was trying to teach them a lesson. And they forgot all about their differences, and they learned that unity is strength.

So this story I'm telling you is a really simple story, but I hope it just captures the element of the importance of unity to strength.

Paul is exhorting them to stand together. Now I want to just talk real briefly about a couple of things that Paul points out.

First of all, he said, in one spirit, and then he said, with one mind. In one spirit and with one mind.

And I read a bunch of commentaries in preparing for this message and looked up Greek words and did all kinds of study.

I don't know Greek, but fortunately, it's amazing what you can get access to. It's very easy to study

God's word and do an in -depth study, and I'd encourage you to do it if you're interested. But this word for spirit is pneuma, and it can mean four things, spirit,

Holy Spirit, wind, or breath. And it's used 383 times in the Bible. So the definition or the meaning of the word is defined by the context.

So scholars have looked at this, and honestly, they've come to different answers on what they think this means.

Some say, well, the word spirit here means the same idea. It's the attitude or the heart. But other

Christian scholars think that this may be referenced to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the literal

Spirit of God. And I tend to lean toward the second camp. But really, either way you go, I think it's clear that we, as believers, do have the

Holy Spirit in us. I mean, I can go to many other scriptural references and look at that. So I know that's true, right?

1 Corinthians 3 .16, Paul's like chastising the Corinthian church, and he says, don't you know you yourselves are

God's temple, and God's Spirit lives in you? He is clearly communicating that God's Spirit is in us.

And so as believers, we share in the Spirit of God. And I think that is fundamental to unity, to having the same

Spirit, is the fact that we literally have God's Spirit. You know, there's unity in a lot of organizations.

You know, you might be a part of a club or a sporting team or, you know, a team at work or your own family or friends, whatever.

You know, you can have unity in a lot of different cases. That's great. But there is a special unity within the family of God, and it's the

Spirit of God which unites us, the Spirit of God. The second part that I wanted to point out here was the reference that Paul made to with one mind.

The word mind here means psyche. It means what you think or feel on the inside.

So Paul is basically challenging them and exhorting them to act as one person, you know, with one mind.

That's pretty challenging. In fact, I would say that's downright impossible without, again, the

Holy Spirit supernaturally, you know, inside of us, indwelling us and helping us to think and act in that way.

So why is unity important? If we keep on reading here, we see that the Philippians are challenged here to have unity, striving side by side.

Why? For the sake of the gospel. So the Greek word for strive is sunathleo, and it means basically to strive or to compete together with others.

I love competing, by the way. I just like to play games and I never like to lose.

But this is a word that means to compete together, like in a kind of a teamwork sense, or to cooperate vigorously.

Have you ever heard those two words used together, cooperate vigorously? I have not. You know, I think of the word cooperate and often

I think of kind of like, all right, we'll get along, okay, whatever you say, let's do this together.

But it's not that kind of passive or kind of giving up cooperation. It's an active, energized, like hardworking cooperation.

It's a vigorous cooperation. Sometimes, by the way, cooperation takes a lot of energy, doesn't it?

It's not an easy thing, cooperation. So in verse 28 now,

Paul states that they should not be frightened by their opponents.

Do we face opponents, you and I today, as we stand on the gospel, as we share the gospel?

Do we face opponents? We do. I see some nodding heads. Absolutely, we do.

As believers, you have an enemy, his name is Satan, and he is opposed to you. That is the spiritual reality we are told in Scripture.

There is a battle going on between sides. Who's heard of the song

Battle by Chris August? Got any music fans out there? I like the song, I have to admit.

The lyrics, something like this, there's a battle between good and evil, and it's raging inside of me.

There's a struggle, it's God and the devil, it's love against the enemy. And I think those words kind of capture this battle that's going on.

I really enjoy that song, but there is a real spiritual battle. I just want your eyes to be opened to that.

I think we should expect opposition. When you take a stand on the gospel, when you share the gospel, when you live for the gospel, expect opposition.

Peter tells us this. 1 Peter 4 .12 says, don't be surprised when you, by the painful trials you are suffering, as if something strange were happening to you.

Peter is saying, why are you surprised? James 1 goes farther. It says, consider it joy when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith will develop perseverance.

There's a reason behind, there's a purpose in this. So the bottom line is, I want to draw from this, is expect opposition.

We should actually be joyful despite the opposition. And Paul's point here is, don't be frightened by this opposition.

In fact, he goes on to say, Philippians, the fact that you're not frightened by opposition, that's actually a sign to your opponent that they're going to be destroyed, but that you're going to be saved, and that by God.

You're going to be saved, and that by God. That is the same faith and hope that we face, that we have as we face opposition.

We have a hope in a God who is much bigger and stronger than anything that we're facing.

So trust in God, be confident in God. His promises are solid and sure. Verse 29 goes on to explain that this whole suffering thing, it's kind of part of a package deal.

Congratulations, you're granted suffering along with belief. But it's really literally what it says.

It has been granted to you that you would suffer as well as believe.

So just realize this is the deal. It's part of a package, expect suffering.

And the fact that it uses the word granted here really is describing this as a gift. Do you think of suffering as a gift?

It's hard to when you're in the middle of suffering. I don't want to trivialize that, but it is a gift.

It is a part of the process as we're growing in our maturity and in our life, growing more like Christ.

In verse 30, Paul identifies with the Philippians in the middle of this opposition and conflict.

So let me take you back to the founding of the Philippian church. I mentioned that Paul and Silas got beaten and imprisoned, right?

So it was in the middle of opposition, in the middle of suffering, in the middle of trial that the Philippian church was even established.

So they can look back and remember that. And Paul is saying, hey, I'm still experiencing this opposition, this trial, this hardship.

So I'm right there with you. I'm going through this with you. So he's essentially identifying with them and showing that he is with them in the thick of it.

So now as we continue on into chapter 2, I want to just highlight the fact that in the original letter that Paul wrote, he did not write down verse 27, verse 28, now chapter 2, verse 1.

He didn't do that. That was all added later by translators and by others. So nothing wrong with those verses, by the way, sure helps me find what

I'm looking for in the Bible. So I'm thankful for it. But it wasn't there in the original letter that Paul wrote.

So Paul, as he was writing this, just continues on with his thought. And so I want to do that as well.

In verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2, Paul says, if you have any encouragement from Christ, any comfort from His love, any fellowship with the

Spirit, any tenderness and compassion. So Paul is asking these four questions, but I want to point out that he's not asking these questions to cast doubt on these things.

It's not that Paul doesn't believe them or he's trying to get them to not believe him. He is asking the questions to get them to think.

And maybe you've experienced this kind of questioning process where it's meant to draw you deeper into it, engage your mind.

So Paul is basically saying, with a conditional if statement, he's asking the

Philippians to reflect on whether these things are really true in their lives. Are they really experiencing them?

And he's encouraging them to reflect on that. So I want to do the same thing today with you all, is just to try to get up in your grill, just like Paul is doing with the

Philippians, and just ask you to think and reflect on these things, whether they're true.

Have you experienced any encouragement from Christ in your life? Think about what encouragement have you received from Christ if He's part of your life?

How about comfort from His love? We talk about His love, we sang about His love, amazing love.

There is no greater love than that. God would lay down His life for you and I. That is the greatest love. I hope that that is comforting to you.

How about fellowship with the Spirit? What does that even mean, fellowship? How do

I wrap my brain around that? Well, I want to point out a couple of things that might be helpful. First of all, fellowship with the

Spirit. One of the Spirit's roles is to convict us of sin. That is what the

Holy Spirit does according to Scripture. So when you're going through your day and you come to mind, you realize,

I did this wrong. I offended that person. I sinned in this way. I did that. It's something I need to repent of.

Do you listen to the Holy Spirit? Do you respond to that and repent and turn from your sin on a day -by -day basis, on a moment -by -moment basis?

I would encourage you to do that. That is what walking by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit and fellowshipping with the

Spirit, that's part of what it means. Another part, maybe another way to look at this is just by looking at the fruit of the

Spirit. We hear this referred to often, and Pete referred to it in his prayer earlier this morning.

I just wanted to point out that the fruit of the Spirit is not something that you have to work really hard to do.

It's rather an outflow from the Spirit's presence in your life.

So love, joy. Are you joyful, not in circumstances, but because of the

Holy Spirit's work in your life? Peace. Do you have a sense of peace and contentment? Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control, all those things should be flowing out of our lives.

They should be characteristics of our lives. That's evidence of the Spirit. Do you see those things in your life?

Do you see them in increasing measure, growing as you grow in your walk? How about affection and sympathy?

As the ESV translates it that way, or tenderness and compassion in another translation,

Paul is getting at the emotional side, and he's appealing to human emotion. Do we feel emotion?

Absolutely. It's a part of who we are. That's okay. It's good. We are emotional.

And Paul is saying, do you feel these emotions? Do you feel me? Paul's basically saying, you getting anything here?

Well, if so, he's saying, make my joy complete. And so I like to think of this as Paul is joyful already.

He's got joy. Let's say he's up to about 90 % joy -filled, and he's saying, just top it off.

Give me that top 10%. Make my joy complete by doing the following. And that's a remarkable statement in itself, because Paul is imprisoned and doesn't even know if he's going to live or die, and he's already joyful.

And he's asking them, if you just do these things, it would just make me even more joyful.

It would complete my joy. So what does he tell them? Make my joy complete by having the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord.

So I want to just talk about these three things real quick, and they're really similar thoughts and ideas that all mesh together.

But first of all, having the same mind, the NIV translate this as being like -minded.

And as I was reflecting on this, I thought, it kind of got some silly notions in my head about what it might be like to be like -minded.

And so I wanted to explain what like -minded is not. I don't think it's referring to, for example, the

Borg. Who here knows Star Trek, watches Star Trek a little bit, knows about the Borg? They are some type of entity flying around the universe that is an assimilation of different biologics and technologies.

And basically, their purpose in life is to assimilate you. We are the Borg. We will assimilate you.

Resistance is futile, something like that. And so it's quite interesting, actually, if you like Star Trek, but that is not what

Paul is thinking of here. And I know that for a fact because Star Trek wasn't around back then. Paul is saying that he wants them to be like -minded, but let's just be honest.

We are not all identical, okay? We have different gifts. We have different abilities, talents.

We're different sizes and shapes, colors, and flavors. I mean, we're just different, okay? And that's good.

That's beautiful. That's the way God intended it. That's the way He meant it to be. But He means for us to use these different gifts and abilities in a way that is cooperative, in an agreeing, in an agreeable kind of a way.

What about the same love? Remember I said three things, like -minded, same love, and then the same purpose.

I wanted to get into the love for a second. This is agape love, which is

God's love. It's a selfless, sacrificing love.

It's the love that Jesus Christ demonstrated. That's the perfect picture of that kind of love. That's the kind of love that they're to have.

They're to have God's love. What about the same purpose? So I don't know if I clarified this already.

The word here, be in full accord and of one mind, literally in the

Greek it says the one thing minding, the one thing minding. So what does that mean?

In different translators, you know, different translations say that a little different, but I want to get at what the meaning really is, the one thing minding.

So having, I think it means having a common purpose or a goal. Having one thing commonly in mind, right?

Having one thing in mind, and that is having a common purpose or goal. So what is that common purpose or goal that we have?

I'd submit to you that it is to glorify God together. There is no greater being in the universe than God.

There is no one worthy of honor and praise and worship besides God. He deserves it, and that is our common goal.

So Paul isn't the only one here, by the way, in Scripture talking about unity, and I just want to pull in Jesus.

I figure if I can quote Jesus, then I'm doing pretty good. So John 17 .21, it's really an excerpt from a prayer that Jesus is praying.

And it's, I just want to read it to you. John 17 .21, Jesus says as He's praying to the

Heavenly Father that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent

Me. So there's a lot there. Did you catch all that? So by the way,

Jesus and God, they have unity, right? Perfect unity. And He's praying for us here.

He says that they may be one as we are one. So He's saying that the church may be one, may be unified, just as there is unity between God the

Father and God the Son. And why? So that the world may believe that You have sent

Me. Gets back to the point that unity is a very important testimony.

I mean, let's be honest. When the church is unified and there is unity, it is a beautiful thing.

When there's divisions, splits, arguing factions in the church, it is ugly.

It is not pretty. It does not provide a good testimony. It does not glorify

God in any way. It casts doubt on the very message. The very words of God are despised because of divisions and factions and things.

So unity is very critical to a testimony to the world. In verses 3 and 4,

Paul now moves on to the topic of humility, and he just shoots straight at my heart.

He says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vacancy. In humility, consider others better than yourself.

Each of you, look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others. Wow, how in the world do we live up to the challenge in these two verses?

I read these verses a long time ago. I decided to memorize them because I was just so convicted by them and challenged by them.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition? How do I do that? I mean, stop and think about it. Okay, I'm at home.

I decide to be nice. I'm going to help around the house, do the dishes and clean up some things.

And all the while, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, I hope my wife appreciates this. So if she doesn't notice or something,

I'm kind of miffed. I'm a little bit put off. I mean, that's silly, right? I mean, it's a silly example. But the truth is, when

I do things, I am so self -motivated. I really am. At work,

I thought about my work environment, and I want to do a good job, and the Scripture exhorts us to do your best, to work hard.

But a lot of the time, my motive is so that I'll get noticed, so that I'll get rewarded, so I'll get recognized.

Honestly, if I examine my own heart, that's what's going on there. So I want to encourage you guys to think and ponder as well your motives.

What motivates you? Do you put the needs of others first, or do you put your own interests first?

We need to, I mean, we were told to think of others as better than ourselves. And I would consider this something, maybe use the word selfless humility to kind of capture this idea.

Selfless humility. Here's a few questions to just help you ponder selfless humility in your own life.

And I took these questions from a study, it's called Seeking Him. It's a study by Nancy Lee DeMoss and Tim Grissom, and there's a chapter on humility that is super convicting.

So I would encourage you to check that out if you want to be convicted. But I just want to list a few questions for you.

They have like 30 questions, just totally just blow you away. But I'm just going to list a few here for you.

And just don't want you, as I read these questions, I just want you to ponder, reflect on yourself, this is just between you and God.

Number one, are you focused more on the failures of others? That would be,

I'd put you in a proud camp if you identify with that statement. Or are you overwhelmed with a sense of your own spiritual need?

That would be more of the humble camp. Question two, do you have to prove you're right or are you not argumentative?

By the way, I encourage you to think about these and reflect on them as they apply to you, not your neighbor. Question three, do you demand and insist on your own rights?

That would be the proud side. Or do you give up your rights? Do you have a meek spirit, giving up what you could rightfully claim?

Do you desire to be served? That's the proud heart. Or are you motivated to serve others?

That's the humble heart. Do you strive to make a name for yourself? Seek self -advancement.

Or are you motivated to make others around you successful, to actually promote other people, to try to get them lifted up?

Do you have a drive to be recognized and appreciated? I know I do, by the way.

Or do you have a sense of your own unworthiness and you're just simply thrilled that God would even use you at all?

That's the humble heart right there. Are you sorry you get caught when you sin?

Or are you truly repentant over the sin and turn away from it?

That's the humble heart. Do you think that you don't have anything to repent of? So when you think of repentance, you're like, whoa, what would

I even repent of? Or do you recognize that you have just this continual need to repent, like that there's just a heart condition that requires continual repentance?

So I hope that just illustrates a little bit for you of this difference between a proud and a humble attitude and heart, and just helps you reflect on those things.

Now, one of the neat things, I think, of studying scripture is just taking a step back once in a while.

So you're kind of reading and you're digging in and you're thinking about what is it saying? What is it saying? And then just step back once in a while and kind of see the flow.

Where's it going? What's going on here? Why is he saying this? And I noticed in chapter 1, verse 27, through chapter 2, verse 2, he's really hitting on unity over and over and over.

There's this theme of unity woven throughout. And then in verses 3 and 4, he talks very pointedly about humility, selfless humility.

So what's the connection here? Why is he talking about one and the other right away? Well, I would submit to you that individual selfless humility is a key to the corporate church unity that Paul is exhorting the

Philippians to. Humility, in other words, is foundational for unity.

So think about it. What breaks up or divides a church? It's pretty much the attitude that when everyone gets an attitude of self -interest, right?

I'd rather do...I want this way, and insisting on their way. It's basically the attitude of putting myself above the needs of others, a self -centered, proud attitude.

And if that's existing, unity is not going to last. So the last few verses here,

I want to cover verses 5 to 11, take that as a chunk, and we'll talk about this last, and then we'll close.

Verses 5 to 11 is almost a poem or a song. It's about Jesus Christ. And I think

Paul, he's almost cheating here because he pulls out the big gun. He's hit a lot of good stuff here, but then he pulls out

Jesus Christ as the ultimate example of humility. I mean, there is no better example. It's just, it blows you away when you read these verses, at least it does me.

I mean, consider what he's saying here. Jesus Christ, who is literally

God, it says in verse 6. He is literally God in very nature, created the universe, deserves all the glory, praise, honor, worship.

He is over everything. If anyone deserves to be treated well, by the way, it's

God. And He in verse 7, didn't grasp, cling to it, hang on to it, but He humbled

Himself. He willingly gave it up. It says in the English Standard Version, it says

He emptied Himself. He humbled Himself. He took the body of a human. He voluntarily did that for you and me.

Verse 8 goes on to say that He humbled Himself and became obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross.

So Jesus did that for you and me. And I don't know,

I can't add anything to that. It's just the most humbling and powerful thing I can think of. But what do we do with that?

Like, so how do we apply that to us? Those couple of verses there. I mean, what, am

I supposed to go die for my friend? Should you die for someone? Is that what it's saying? Maybe, I don't know.

It might happen. You might be called to that. But maybe He's asking us to just simply continue living, but in a way, dying to ourselves in small ways, day by day, and give up the things that we would prefer.

Living, you know, living in a selfless way. Give up what we want for the benefit of others.

Perhaps this was God's challenging you to do today. I love the way this passage ends, verses 9 to 11.

Keep going. You know, it doesn't end there with Jesus dying. It says, God exalted

Jesus to the highest place. He gave Him the name above every name. And someday, every single person is going to bow in heaven on earth and under the earth.

Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the

Father. I just would exhort you to do it today.

Don't wait. Give Him the glory. Submit to Him now. He's going to get the glory eventually.

So this example of Jesus is very powerful. And I want to just bring in Peter's words.

He commands us to be humble in the same way. And here's what Peter says, 1 Peter 5, 6, humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.

Not yourself, but He, God. So just as Jesus, we saw that example, Jesus humbles Himself to the point of death.

God exalts Him. It's the exact same thing. Peter is saying, humble yourself and let God lift you up.

Let God lift you up. And by the way, God's going to do it in His time. He's going to do it in His way. And it may not be what you're looking for.

Okay? So I'm not promising anything here. I'm telling you,

I'm not promising it's going to turn out the way you want. I'm telling you, if you humble yourself, God will lift you up in His time and in His way.

So don't strut your stuff. Don't self -promote. Be humble. Let go of your ego and your pride.

Let God exalt you in His time. So to sum up and to just sort of conclude the service today, recast,

I feel like this passage really applies in the sense of unity and humility.

And my desire is our church would be unified, not the mindless, mind -meld kind of thing, or not just us mimicking each other or copying phrases and words and trying to act the same and wear the same clothes.

That's not what we mean, but rather with a unified sense of purpose to glorify God, with a unified love, the love of God, a selfless, self -sacrificing love.

It's exactly what this passage has challenged us to do, and to humble ourselves, to genuinely put others first and serve others.

By the way, I see this happening every day, and I just want to commend all of you who are serving and self -sacrificing for other people.

And I thought of a few things this morning. There were people in here early preparing coffee and donuts.

There were people who came in this week and cleaned this whole space and cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the toilets.

That's self -sacrifice right there. There's people down there watching our kids, taking care of young ones, changing diapers, serving faithfully week after week.

I mean, these are all ways we can serve. There's small groups and other people just connecting, you know, even outside of this church service to encourage each other, to pray with each other when we go through hard times, to share the burdens, take a meal to someone, help someone in need.

Those are the things that I want to encourage you and exhort you and say, well done, keep doing those. But don't do them in your strength.

Turn to God. Again, it's the power of the Holy Spirit in us that we want to yield the fruit in our lives.

So I encourage you to depend on the Holy Spirit for those things. And this is all part of the process of sanctification, growing up in our faith and growing to be more like Christ.

And finally, as we close the service, I want to just encourage you to worship God this morning. You know, we did that at the beginning of the service.

We're going to sing another song in worship. You know, you may wonder, why do we sing a song while we take communion?

We are worshiping God. This same God who, you know, created the stars, humbled

Himself, died on a cross, He sacrificed Himself for you and I. And the communion is really there to remind us, to center us, to bring us back to the cross.

You know, the cracker represents His body, the juice represents His blood, the sacrifice Jesus paid for your sin and for my sin.

And it is a sober thought, a solemn thing that we need to contemplate, but it's also a reason for rejoicing.

And I want to encourage you to just rejoice, to thank Him, pray to Him as you're taking communion, worship

Him, sing the words in your mind, in your hearts, even out loud as we're taking the communion.

Just encourage you to worship God today as we come to communion. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank

You for Your Word. I thank You for the way it humbles us, just to read of what

You did for us and the sacrifice You made through Jesus Christ. Father, just change us, change us on the inside,

Father. Only Your Spirit can do this. Lord, as we humbly come before You, Lord, we thank You for Your sacrifice, the cracker and the juice to remind us of Your body and blood broken for us.

Lord, thank You for that sacrifice. Lord, may You be exalted, lifted up, and praised,

Lord, in our lives, in our mouths, in our words, in our actions, in everything we do and everywhere we go.