Godly Mind: avoiding self-centeredness; Submission, Service — A.J. Higgins

I'm going to ask you to turn to Philippians in chapter 2. Philippians and chapter number 2. Now, Brother Crawford has done such an excellent and thorough job that I fear I'm going to be sounding like I am repeating some of what he said, but I know I need to hear it more than once.

Philippians 2 and the Mind of Christ

Philippians 2, verse 1,. If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and granted or given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things on earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is Lord.

And notice it doesn't stop there. As the eternal servant of Jehovah, his purpose is to eternally glorify his Father. So that praise will be to the glory of God, the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Now I'm sure that God will add his blessing with what we have heard already concerning these tremendous truths. What we have before us in Philippians chapter 2 is one of those seminal chapters of the New Testament.

We were taught as young believers the four great chapters relative to the person of Christ. John chapter 1, Philippians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 1. All of them with a somewhat different emphasis.

You will remember, of course, that in John chapter 1, as the word, the great truth is revelation. The Lord Jesus has the full revelation of God. When you come to Hebrews chapter 1, it is not now the word and revelation, but it is the Son and his royalty.

He will be the one that will reign over the earth in a coming day. It is the Son and his royalty. When you're in Colossians chapter 1, a different thought altogether, he is the image of God, and there it is the one who represents God.

Not just reveals, but who represents God in every sphere. Whether we look at creation, or whether we look at the church, he is the representative of God in every sphere. Philippians chapter 2 differs because Philippians chapter 2 is much more practical.

The others are primarily doctrinal chapters, chapters which reveal to us tremendous doctrine concerning the person of Christ. And while Philippians 2 reveals doctrine, it is being revealed for the purpose of very practical teaching.

So rather than revelation or representation, this is all about right relationships. And we will see that as we proceed through our section and consider what Paul has written. So just keep that in mind, that if you understand that Philippians chapter 2 is very practical, Paul is going to apply it to an assembly problem, to an assembly difficulty.

It will prevent us going in error where many have gone relative to the down stooping of the Lord Jesus. Maybe I should just mention that right now so that it's clear to you what I'm saying. There are some who have tried to teach, and you may find some of them knocking on your door, and you may find some of them seeking to visit you at home, that this proves the Lord Jesus Christ was less than God, that he emptied himself, that he ceased to be God, and he became a servant because, it says, he emptied himself or made himself of no reputation.

Now, you will see very clearly how impossible that is because he is going to apply this to the Christians, that they should serve one another. Now, if it meant the Lord Jesus ceased to be God and became a man, became a servant, how could that apply to the Christians?

How could they cease being one thing and start being something else? Impossible. So he's not speaking about ceasing to be what you are inherently. He is speaking of assuming a servant attitude in our relationships one with another.

So, just as an introduction, hopefully that was not as unclear as it came out, but we'll see how that all fits in here in this particular letter. But let me first of all speak of the motivation that Paul appeals to.

Grace, Unity, and the Assembly's Resources

Paul begins in the first four verses seeking to motivate the assembly. He reminds them of the abundance of their resources. If there be, therefore, notice what he says, consolation in Christ, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, bowels of mercy.

So he reminds them here of the abundance of their resources. Consolation in Christ, being in Christ. Being in Christ together should encourage unity because of an appreciation of grace. Now, you'll understand where Paul is going with all this.

There's a problem. There's a disunity. There's a division coming into the assembly. He won't really address it clearly, bluntly until chapter four, but he's building towards it. He's working towards trying to apply Christ to the situation and to the problem.

And so he reminds them, first of all, that they all stand on the same ground, the ground of grace. Let me just give you an Old Testament picture to help hopefully underline what I'm saying. You will remember, won't you, that out of envy, out of envy, ten brothers sold Joseph as a slave into Egypt.

And as far as they were concerned, Joseph was dead and gone. You remember the sequence of events. We don't have to go over those. But let me just fast forward. Joseph has been working to bring them to repentance.

He gathers them at his table. Bring these men home and dine. And they're gathered at his table. And it says that they were amazed as they realized that they were seated from the eldest down to the youngest.

And they were in awe that somehow this had all worked out. But now Joseph wants to test them on one of the things they had gone wrong about. He wants to test their true repentance. And so as they're sitting together and feasting, it says that Joseph passed them their portions and he passes Benjamin five times as much.

They're all looking. Here's what I've got. How come Benjamin has so much more? No way. It says they ate and they were merry. Those brothers that once had so much envy in their hearts towards another brother, now they see a brother getting five times as much as they've gotten and there's no envy.

You know why? They thought they were going to be put to death and to now be brought in to sit at the table with the prime minister of Egypt. It's like we deserve nothing. Forget the envy and the strife.

I mean this, you know, like they would say, it can't get any better than this. Here we are brought into this man who's the prime minister and our plates are full. Who cares if Benjamin has more? I deserve nothing and look at what I've got.

That's what grace does. I deserve, as our brother has reminded us, the exact opposite. And look what I have. So they pass the envy test. They had been brought to repentance when it came to envy. That canker, that disease was no longer infecting their hearts.

They realized they deserve nothing and they had received everything. Is that how you come into an assembly meeting? Is that how I come in? That I deserve nothing. Do you ever sit down on a Sunday morning and along with thanking God for his son, just maybe before the meeting begins, just stopping to think, imagine me here.

Imagine me here. Look in the rear view mirror sometime and look where your life once was. Look at what you once were and then think, imagine me here, sitting with other believers around the person of Christ.

Paul says, any consolation about being in Christ? Does the grace of God give you a sense of your own unworthiness? You know what causes difficulty in the assembly, doesn't it? It's our pride. It's our feeling like we're not getting what we deserve.

It's our feeling as though everyone else is somehow getting a pat on the back and everyone else is getting the oil to their squeaky wheels and we're not getting anything. And we begin to feel sorry for ourselves.

But Paul says, never lose sight of the grace of God. Lefebesheth is another tremendous example, isn't it? That when he was brought in to sit before David and then finally when David had to escape from Absalom and his, I'm saying Shimei, it wasn't Shimei, it was Ziba.

Ziba slandered him to David. And when David comes back, what does Lefebesheth say? Let him have everything. The king has come in peace. That's all that matters to me. All that matters is that you're here and I'm with you.

Let him have everything. Consolation in Christ. Comfort of love. The comfort of love. Divine love in your heart. John reminds us in his epistles that if you love the one that begot you, you will love them that are begotten by him.

That we love the brethren. Any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love. What about fellowship of the Spirit? What does that mean, the fellowship of the Spirit? I would take it that what he has in view is the Spirit of God working.

Here's the Spirit of God's desire. Now, I know that there is the unity of the body which was created at Pentecost by one Spirit or in one Spirit. We all baptized into one body. But in local companies, the Spirit of God is fostering unity.

He does it by a mutual dependence, by the variety of gifts he gives, but all of that is working together to foster unity in the assembly of God's people. So that if you are working to create division, please be advised you are working 180 degrees contrary to the Spirit of God.

That's his goal, creating a unity. And again, we said it this morning, re-emphasize, not uniformity, not everyone looking the same, acting the same, saying the same, thinking the same about every little thing.

Unity is not uniformity. Room for individuality, room for personality, room for different gifts, room for different interests, different exercises in God's assembly, very vital. But unity together relative to the things of God, he promotes us by reminding us of our position by grace and the comfort of love that we should have.

Then he speaks again of the fourth element, the fourth resource, vows and mercy. Sounds strange to our Western ears, but just compassion, kindness, just kindness shown one to another. Be ye kind. Is that out of vogue, just simple kindness to other believers?

That means I'll watch what I say. I'll watch how I act. That mother that has brought three children to meeting and she's struggling to keep the children under control, and all you can say at the end of the meeting is, can't you keep your kids under control?

Likely she's going to bring them back next week again. Likely she's going to stay home. Just kindness, just normal, everyday thoughtfulness for others and what they're going through. Fulfill ye my joy, he says, that she be like-minded.

So not only an abundance of resources, but the attitude of their mind. Fulfill ye my joy that she be like-minded, having the same love of one accord of one mind. Like-mindedness, love one for another, and then he speaks of what is to be absent from them.

Rejecting Strife and Vainglory

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Chapter one, some indeed preach Christ out of envy and out of strife, supposing to add gall to my bonds. Paul can live with that because Christ is being preached, but he's not condoning it.

He says the exact opposite. As far as you and I are concerned, he says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. And so he reminds us of what is to be absent in our dealings one with another. Strife is the visible, isn't it?

It's what can be seen and felt in an assembly, but vainglory is what can't be seen. It's that attitude of mind, that motivation of heart for self to be prominent, for self to have his own way. And so he says, I want not only actions to be right, but motives to be right.

Not just dealing with your hands, but with your heart. Not just your words, but with your mind. You recall the psalmist long ago said that he longed that the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart would be acceptable before God.

Not just what we say, but what's going on inside. And so Paul here is dealing with their minds, how they think. So just as a reality check, how do we each think? Now, I am not in any way denying what our brother Crawford has said when he reminded us so well that selflessness means living for Christ first.

But we are going to see in this chapter that when I live for Christ, it will be expressed towards others. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ became a servant, not of men, he was never a servant of men. He was a servant of God.

And as a result, he served men. So as a result of devotion to Christ, as a result of yieldedness to Christ, then selflessness means I live for him. But chapter two is going to talk all about expressing that to others.

So what is to be absent? Strife and vainglory. What is the activity to mark me? We have that in verse number four. Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Verse number three, esteeming others better than self.

Now, let me just take that last expression, esteeming others better than self. That used to cause me concern. You mean I'm to go around thinking that I'm not very good and everybody else really is better?

Is that what this means? Well, that can't be what it means. It can't be because we're being told that's the way the Lord Jesus thought. He could never have thought falsely that others were morally superior.

Others had greater gift. Others had greater speaking ability. So it's got nothing to do with relative worth of individuals. It's got to do with putting your interest ahead of mine. So that's what Christ did.

He put my interest and your interests ahead of his own. He esteemed, he valued the welfare of others more important than he valued not going to Calvary. That was the choice. The choice was valuing you and me, thinking enough of us that our welfare, our escaping divine judgment was more important than his avoiding the cross.

And so Paul says, this is how Christ thinks. Now, I want you to realize this is how Christ thinks even now. We are not looking just at a little slice of the life of the Lord Jesus and recognizing how he thought then, but it's all changed now.

This was and will be the eternal mind of Christ. Eternally he has thought this way. Never began, never had a sudden beginning that he made a crucial decision. No, it was eternally in his mind and it will never change eternally.

He will eternally be the servant of Jehovah. And the amazing thing is just as he did by the shore of Galilee that day in John 21 when he served them. And as Luke's parable tells us that he will gird himself and make us sit down and serve us.

Eternally he will serve. Eternally he will serve you and me. I don't know if you, maybe I better be careful here. Some people don't like C .S. Lewis and don't like Narnia. Well, forgive me, but you remember in that last, the last battle, the great battle, and they are ushered into Narnia.

They think they're about to be killed and suddenly the door opens and they're in and they're going higher and up, ever, ever onward, ever upward. And is it Lucy says, Aslan, we are so happy. And he says to them, something to the effect, unfortunately the words just slipped my mind right now.

I will make you even happier and happier as time goes on. An eternal unending revelation of his person and of his grace and of his love with increasing, eternally increasing levels of joy and delight.

Never for a moment think that after the first couple of thousand years, what do we do? There will be endless revelations of his heart, of his love, of his care. Ever onward, ever upward will be what heaven is all about.

And so here he reminds them of care for others, just as he was marked by that very same care. So here then, what is going to motivate the assembly? Now, let me just stop because there is an invaluable, an invaluable lesson here, especially for our brethren like myself who have any responsibility locally.

What is Paul going to do when he is faced with a problem? Most of us default to our position of authority or I said so, or this is the way it has to be. What Paul does is not give rules, not speak with authoritarian finality.

What Paul does is apply Christ. Paul applies Christ to the problems of an assembly. Now, it takes great spirituality and great skill, a lot easier just to say, no, that's because I want it this way. Paul applies Christ.

That is the ultimate, the ultimate medicine for every disease that we face. A deeper appreciation of Christ, devotion to Christ, conformity to Christ, that's what's going to solve problems. That's what's going to unify assemblies.

That's what's going to be the motivation that we may be what God intends us to be, the motivation for God's assembly. Let me talk about the illustration then of Christ that is given to us. Let me tell you about the eternal majesty that was his, who being.

Christ's Eternal Majesty and Servant Mindset

Now, I'm not a Greek scholar and I am not great with Greek tenses, but I want to tell you that what he's saying here is timeless, who being in the form of God. Hebrews 1 uses a similar construction, who being the brightness of his glory.

Eternally, he was the brightness of God's glory, the express image of his person, so that when angels, when cherubim, and when Isaiah saw Christ, saw the throne and saw the glory-filled cherubim, the glory-filled chambers of heaven, they saw Christ.

Not incarnate, but they saw the display of glory that eternally belonged to Christ, who being in the form of God, his eternal majesty. So what he's saying is this. There's no position too great. There's no one too high in God's assembly to serve others.

There's no hierarchy that commands others to serve and does not serve itself. The one that had the highest place above, adored by all the sons of flame, is the one who became a servant, who being in the form of God, the eternal majesty that was his, the exemplary mind that was his, he thought, he thought.

Have you ever considered, have you ever considered that you and I have a God who humbled himself? We actually have a self-humbling God. There was no constraint. There was no external demands. There was no pressure upon him.

There was nothing but his very character and nature. He is a self-humbling God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. It was not something he wanted, that he needed to hold on to, that display of glory, that outward display of Shekinah.

He didn't have to hold on to that, but he made himself of no reputation and he took the form of a servant. So the effective movement, if he is going to move, he's going to move downward. Couldn't move any higher upward.

He moved downward. No stoop too great. Nothing too beneath me to do for others. Oh, maybe one thing, I'll visit them when they're in the hospital and I'll read and pray with them, but, you know, go over and get the dirty clothes and wash them because the wife's in the hospital and they're all the children.

That's nothing beneath, nothing too low, nothing too menial, nothing too humble to do in service. Reminds me again of Joseph. Excuse me if my mind keeps reverting to Joseph, but you recall in the prison, you can't get much lower than being a prisoner.

And you can't get much lower than being a prisoner shackled around the neck and the hands and the wrists and the ankles. Pretty low. And you can't get much lower than being put in charge of the other prisoners.

But you know what it says concerning Joseph? It says, he served them. Joseph? Joseph, don't you remember the dreams you had? Don't you remember the visions God gave you of coming glory and exaltation and honor?

And Joseph, you're not only in prison, but you're serving other prisoners? Yeah, nothing too menial. Anything too menial for you in God's assembly? I was made for greater things than giving out the hymn books.

I was made for something more important than just setting up the chairs. If only they'd recognize my gift here. They just don't realize how gifted I am. And all they want me to do is fix the chairs, sing with the kids.

Nothing too menial. The essence of his ministry was this. He took the form of a servant. Someone has said that perhaps it is more correct, rather than saying that he exchanged the form of God for the form of the servant, that it may be more correct to say he expressed the form of God in the form of a servant.

To think of the one who was God over all, blessed forever, he became a servant. Expressed it in the form of a servant, no position too low. Now, you will understand, won't you? For you to be a servant of God, for someone to call you and address you as a servant of God, is that humbling or is that exalting?

For every one of us here, it's the greatest honor we could have to be thought of as one who serves the living God. There was only one man for whom it was a step down. It was humbling himself to become a servant.

So what was true of him now, should mark every one of us? Servants of God, but expressing that in our service one to another. This reminds us as well of the expression of his manhood. He was found in fashion as a man.

He was made in the likeness of men, rather. His experience as a man, he was found in fashion as a man. He passed through all of life's stages, all of the experiences relative to manhood, the extent of his obedience, he became obedient all the way to the point of death, and finally the extreme to which he moved, even across death.

So he's giving us here tremendous doctrine, tremendous truth relative to the wondrous person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he's not just giving us doctrine for doctrine's sake. He is giving us doctrine because it has tremendous practical bearing on your life and mine, the illustration of Christ.

So what about it? What is your mindset in God's assembly? Are you there to get, or are you there to give? Are you there to be served, or are you there to serve? Well, you may say, well, all of us need certain things.

All of us require a certain amount of something, and I'm not getting it where I am. Really? What have you given? What have you given where you are? Have you given as much as the Lord Jesus gave? Have you gone as far as He has gone?

Do you know anything of the humbling that He knew, any of the extent to which He went? He became obedient in His life to the will of God, even to the point of death. Mind you, it is not that He was obedient to death.

He was never obedient to death. He was still in control of death when He died, because in death, He conquered death and raised Himself from the grave. He was in control, willing to serve others in God's assembly.

Now, that attitude of serving others will take many different forms, and the way you do it is not the way I will do it, and I can't be legislating for others. Many serve by diligent prayer. Many serve by working with children.

Some serve by visiting. Some serve by care. There are a myriad of ways that this mindset can be displayed practically in God's assembly, and we'll look at some of those. Let me just mention here, because it's lovely and while it's perhaps a little bit away from what we have in mind, yet I still think there's a principle, look at verses 9 to 11 and consider the vindication of God.

God's Vindication of the Humble Servant

He humbled Himself, God exalted. So look at the vindication. Look at the source of the vindication, wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him. Lesson to be learned, He lost nothing by humbling Himself.

God saw to His vindication. He lost nothing by humbling Himself. Lesson for you, you'll lose nothing by humbling yourself. You may say, but I'm almost sure I was meant to be an elder, and they're not recognizing it.

What this verse teaches is this. If I submit and serve, God will see to bring me where He wants me to be. God will see to my, I'll use the word exaltation very carefully, because it may not be exaltation like you think it is.

But the lesson to be learned is this, that no one will ever lose by submitting. You cannot lose by submitting. God will see to it that you are brought to where He wants you to be. Some of the old preachers used to say, to hinder the will of God for another believer, you would have about as much success as stopping Niagara Falls with a pitchfork.

Now, that may be an old-fashioned comparison, but you'll understand what I mean. If God has purposes for your life, be it Sunday school teacher, be it elder, be it full-time preacher, be it missionary, be it someone in another sphere in God's assembly, if God has that in mind for you, you will never lose by submitting and serving.

God brought Christ to where He wanted Him. God will bring you to where He wants you. And though the hosts of hell and the machinations of men should be all arrayed against you, nothing can hinder God's purposes.

God hath highly exalted Him, the source of His vindication. Think of the supremacy of His position, highly exalted. The subjection, every knee will bow to Him. The one who submitted on earth, God will see to it that every knee.

Now, I know it's here, it should submit. It's what they call subjunctive. It's what should be as rightful, but it also will be. Not only should it be, it will be as well. Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess.

He is Lord, the one who shunned vain glory. God will give Him glory. I mean, I hope you can see what Paul is working on here to encourage these saints. No need to push myself. No need to down others to make myself look better.

No need to diplomatically work behind the scenes to get what I want. He says the one who submitted, God exalted. The one who shunned vain glory, God has given them glory. God will take care of all the consequences in an individual's life when submission and obedience is found.

And I cannot help but mention again the servant character that will be maintained by the Lord Jesus for all eternity. It is to the glory of God the Father. The mutual desire of divine persons. The Father, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.

The desire of the Son, that all men should worship God in spirit and in truth. Both of them mutually working together for mutual honor, one for another. Now he says that same mindset is what should mark you.

So let me move from the motivation, the illustration, the vindication to the application. He begins verse 12 with these words,. Wherefore, in light of all I have said, of a mind that esteems the welfare of others ahead of its own, of a mind that is free of vain glory and is not engaged in strife, in light of a wondrous example of the Lord Jesus who stooped so low, who gave so much, who yielded in every respect, he said, Wherefore, my beloved, just as he was marked by obedience unto death, he says, you have always obeyed in my presence.

Now he says, I want that obedience found in my absence. So what is he coming to here? He's going to apply, he's going to apply all that he has taught in verses 1 to 10, 1 to 11, to the need of the assembly at Philippi.

So let me just stop. Fortunately, I don't know issues in your assemblies here in Wisconsin or Iowa. So I can just freely say, would this example of the Lord Jesus do anything to help your assembly? If every believer in your assembly had this mindset, had this way of thinking, would it help your assembly?

If it would, then start doing it. Thou art the man. You adopt it. You see, this mind does not look for others to do it. This mind says, this is my privilege, my responsibility. Here's how I can serve God by serving the needs of others.

So let me mention then here, we don't want to lose this lesson, a right appreciation of Christ, a right appreciation of Christ will answer most, if not every issue in an assembly. Now, it's dangerous to just give an opinion.

So I'm moving on dangerous ground because I'm going to give an opinion. We remember the Lord every week because the word of God instructs us to. No brainer. That's not an opinion. But my opinion is this.

One of the reasons the Lord gave us that remembrance every week, because there is nothing that humbles us, nothing that reminds us of what we owe to grace, nothing that reveals to us afresh the wonder of the person of Christ, like sitting at the Lord's Supper.

I don't want to distract your mind, so please don't allow me to distract your mind on the Lord's Day. But if you were to somehow tabulate, write down all of the doctrines of Christ that are given expression to at the Lord's Supper, beginning with his virgin birth, his eternal sonship, the purity of his life, the naturalness of his growth as a man, the pleasure he brought to God, the purity of his motives, the purity of his thinking, and on and on it goes.

Every Lord's Day we rehearse those things all the way up to his death and resurrection and return. All of those doctrines we express and give expressions to in our worship. First of all, it preserves doctrine.

We cannot pat ourselves on the back, but we have been preserved doctrinally from many errors that have crept in to some very, very sound fundamental places. We've been preserved. One reason is that those truths are given expression to so often.

But along with it, along with preservation doctrinally, has a tremendous practical effect upon us as we leave a remembrance meeting humbled again to think of what we owe to divine grace and all that Christ is to us in his person and in his work.

Christ, the answer to almost all of our difficulties in assembly life. Would that we had the skill, would that we had the wisdom, would that we had the ability, as Paul does here to apply Christ to assembly difficulties, to assembly problems.

But he reminds us as well that there is a likeness that is to be displayed. Christ was a servant, you are called upon to be servants. Christ was marked by obedience, you are now to be marked by obedience.

What is the obedience that's mentioned here? It is the obedience of the will of God to all that God desires for the assembly, all that God desires of relationships among believers. And so he says, you have obeyed in my presence, now much more in my absence.

So he's not applying peer pressure, he's not applying apostolic pressure, just reminding them of the word of God and likeness to Christ. And just as he obeyed when it meant a cross, they are to obey. You see, what he's hinting at, and he is going to develop later is this, that unity can be costly.

Obedience costs Christ everything. Obeying the will of God in God's assembly may be costly. I won't get my own way. That's a pretty costly thing, because we've been already hearing how we are by nature self-centered.

And if I am willing to sacrifice my agenda for assembly unity, I'm not speaking about principles, not speaking about divine truth, speaking about my agenda, my preferences, my position. So it may cost me something.

A lowliness to cultivate, a lowliness of mind, he speaks about here. Work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling. Fear means a desire to please God. Trembling means a dread that I will displease Him in some way.

And so he reminds them here of this lowliness of mind, this fear and trembling, this awareness of a dependency that is so necessary. Let me just ask you, I mentioned something, I think I did mention it two weeks ago in Garnefella.

I mentioned how an assembly should be a safe haven. What that means is if there's nowhere else on earth I can go where I feel loved, accepted, appreciated, welcomed, at home, if there's no other place on earth, I should be able to come to God's assembly and feel that way, feel absolutely at home.

The Assembly as a Safe Haven of Love and Correction

Somebody say, well, wait a minute, you have to give corrective ministry and you've got a rebuke. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. But you who are parents, you had to correct things at home, didn't you? You had to say to children that you were unhappy with that, but you were still a family.

The reason is because there was an emotional tank. Your emotional tank was full because of an undergirding of love and respect and mutual care and a moving together as a family so that when there come those times where correction is needed, and it must be in a family with children, obviously, you have a large emotional tank to fall back on.