Our Model for Christian Unity - Part 1

So if you would take your Bible and turn to Philippians chapter 2, we're gonna be in verses 5 to 8. Now we will not cover all of those verses tonight. I say that we'll be in verses 5 to 8 because we'll read them and they all go together. And I will mention a few other verses. And again, I do say from time to time you can jot those down and go back and study and study on your own so that you can get all that the Lord wants to give us. Now we spent quite a bit of time in verses 1 to 4. We had three messages where we examined the subject of Christian unity.

And I took my time there because the subject of Christian unity is so very, very important. I titled the three messages that we had teaching towards unity. And I used that title because starting in chapter 1 verse 25, 27, and continuing into chapter 2, Paul was writing to the Philippians and he was moving them towards Christian unity. Now that might sound strange, but that's what he was doing. He was moving them towards Christian unity. And I have said several times later on in chapter 4 he ends up addressing the division that was in the church. Now I cannot stress enough how important those verses are and those messages are.

We need to make sure that we have that teaching in our understanding for two reasons. Number one, the rest of the verses, they're all connected. They're all connected. But also the subject of unity and Christian unity and understanding what that is, is so very vital to the health and the well-being of the church. But in verses 1 to 4, Paul said something like this to the believers. This is just a short paraphrase. He says, "Because you certainly have encouragement from Christ and because you have the love and the fellowship of the Spirit in your life, then you all should have the same mind and the same love.

You should all be bound together with the same purpose. And he then calls them to do nothing from selfish ambitions. But in humility, he calls them to regard each other as more important than themselves. And he finishes that block of teaching off by telling them not to look out for their own interests, but to look out for the interests of their brothers and their sisters first." Now tonight, in verses 5 to 8, we're gonna see that Paul is still teaching towards the subject of unity. But whereas in verses 1 to 4, Paul was commanding them to work towards unity, here in verses 5 to 8, Paul is showing them what true unity looks like.

If you're like me, I like examples, even pictures, even pictures. And he gives them, and he gives us the ultimate example to imitate and to follow. Now think about it. We all need real-life examples and models to emulate in the Christian life. Isn't that right? We all need to be even mature enough in our own faith so that we can be examples for others to emulate. Now let me break that down in four ways, or four areas of life. First of all, all of you need a Paul to Timothy relationship in your life. Do you know who Paul and Timothy were and what their relationship was like?

Paul was his father in the faith in that he influenced him or led him to the Lord. And then not only did he influence him to come to faith in Christ, he became a mentor to him. And he in many ways was a father to him in life and also spiritually. But see, we all need a Paul in our life. You need a Paul. You need an older brother or an older sister in the faith to be a mentor for you. And I would encourage you to look around in the life of our church. And look for a man or a woman that can be that for you. Obviously men with men and women with women. So I challenge you to do that.

I have had people throughout my Christian journey identify me as a Paul for them and connect with me over a long period of time. And then second, you need to be a mature believer so that you can become a Paul for someone else. You need to be a mentor to the less mature believer and also to the new believer. And I challenge you to make yourself available. If you are a mature believer, if you are or at a place where you can mentor a younger believer or a new believer. And then third, you need a Jonathan to David relationship. Do you know the relationship with Jonathan and David? King David?

King David had a wonderful peer relationship with Jonathan who was Saul's son. They were extremely good friends but even more. And what I'm showing you is this. You need a spiritual peer, a spiritual friend for an accountability relationship. This would be someone who is on the same plane as you are spiritually. And in certain ways in that kind of a relationship you could be examples one to another. And I challenge you to look for that in the life of the church. And then fourth, you need to look to Jesus as a model. You need to look to Jesus as an example and a mentor. Yes, Jesus is to be a model for all of us to follow.

And that is what verses 5 to 8 are all about. Jesus is to be our example, our model for true Christian unity. Well that's the title of the message. Our example for Christian unity. Our example for Christian unity. Now I said earlier we will not cover all of the verses but let's read them together verses 5 to 8. I'm reading from the English Standard Version and tonight I'm gonna reference the New American a few times. Maybe the King James. I know I'll reference the King James next week. 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, 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. Now here in these verses we have some of the deepest and the clearest teaching on the incarnation. Now you might ask what does that word mean? You might say, "Pastor that's one of those five-dollar words." What does incarnation mean?

Simply the incarnation is the act of God where by his good grace God the Son became a man in the flesh and he even took human nature into union with his divine nature and divine person and in every way God the Son became a man except for sin while at the same time continuing to be God. And the incarnation is not just something that we need to understand theologically. The incarnation is the greatest gift of grace that God has given to mankind. Think about it. Without God the Son coming to earth as a man to die in the place for sinful men, the perfect sacrifice for sin, well men would have no hope for salvation.

As a matter of fact we would have no hope. So this is the greatest gift. Now theologically the incarnation is the main point of the teaching but practically there is another point to these verses and to be honest with you I think some miss the practical because they get so caught up in the theological and we will get to the practical side of the verses more next week than tonight but theologically the incarnation is the main point of the verses. If you don't get the theological you cannot get the practical. But there is some debate about the verses.

Some scholars say that these passages were a first century hymn that was sung and enjoyed by Christians to celebrate the incarnation. You may see something like that when you do your own study. If you're reading in your study Bible or even in commentaries or even if you're listening to another sermon by another pastor you might come across someone who will say that this was a hymn. But no matter if this was an early hymn that the early church enjoyed or not it really doesn't matter because God inspired Paul to put these words into this book and so to me that really has no bearing on the verses.

To me that's just something for curiosity's sake. So here we have some of the richest and clearest teaching on the fact that God the Son came down from heaven and he became a man in every way except for sin. And ultimately he died on the cross in the place of sinful men so as to provide redemption for men. And this will be my approach. Just like Paul I'm gonna start with the practical. And just like Paul we will move to the theological.

And then after the theological teaching is found and dug out and clearly laid out here we will look at these things more practically and we will make some application in our lives and in our church in dealing with unity. And again that's gonna be more next week. So number one notice verse 5 tells us that Paul gives a command. Notice number one Paul gives a command in verse 5. The English standard says have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. The New American doesn't use the word mind the New American says have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.

Now here Paul is obviously calling these Christians to think like their Lord Jesus Christ. And he tells us that Paul was not only giving them deep theological truths he was giving them these believers deep theological truths about the incarnation for practical reasons. Simply this was not just a theology lesson Paul was calling them to think like Christ first and we will see that he also calls them to live like Christ. But notice the order Paul gives these things. He addresses their thinking or their attitude before he addresses their living. That is because Paul knew that their attitudes determine their actions.

Paul knew that their outlook and all these things would determine the outcome of their behavior. But a question can believers truly think like Jesus? Can believers really have the same attitude of Christ even the same mind of Christ? Doesn't that seem contradictory or impossible? I mean we are sinners. I don't know if you are but I am. I mean we may be redeemed yes but we are still sinners and we're still fighting our old sin nature all day every day. So can we truly have the mind of Christ? Well yes we can have the mind of Christ and there are three things that tell us that we can.

First because Paul was calling these believers to have the mind of Christ. If those believers in the Philippian church could not have the mind of Christ then Paul would not have called them to have the mind of Christ. Kind of obvious. Well the same applies to us. If we cannot have the mind of Christ then Paul would not be commanding us God through Paul and because God is commanding us through Paul to have the mind of Christ well this applies to us. You and I we can have the mind of Christ and you might say pastor you don't know what kind of sin I'm dealing with. You can have the mind of Christ. You don't know how weak I am as a Christian.

You can have the mind of Christ. Then second because it seems that these believers were lacking. Remember they did have some division and some problems that's why he's moving them towards unity. Paul was writing to them to move them towards this Christian unity, true unity. And here it seems that they were lacking otherwise why would have Paul given them these instructions? There's nothing in the Scriptures folks that's just there. Paul told Timothy to get over his timidity because he was timid and he's telling these Christians to move towards unity and he's calling them to have the mind of Christ because they were lacking.

And see for you and for me it could be that we are lacking here that we do not have the mind and the attitude of Christ as we should. You might say pastor I've never thought about it. Well now you're going to. And then third because the truly redeemed do have the ability to have the mind of Christ flat out. Romans 8-9 says that if we do not have the Spirit of Christ we do not belong to Christ. And if we have the Spirit of Christ Christ is in us. And if Christ is in us well then we can have the mind of Christ because he is in us and can enable us to have the mind of Christ.

So this applied to those Philippian Christians and the entire church and this applies to us as individuals we can have the mind of Christ but we're going to see that Paul is applying this to all of the church. So it's not enough for you and you and you and me to strive to have the mind of Christ we must all be striving to have the mind of Christ. Now you see why it might be good to have a mentor and a peer and some accountability. See? So believers can have the mind and the attitude of Christ first because the Spirit dwells in the believer.

Second when that believer understands that they are expected to have the mind of Christ you could say well pastor I've never really thought about that. And in expectation and in obedience to these things they can have the mind of Christ we can have the mind of Christ if we follow what Paul gives us here. The theological teaching and the practical. And I'm going to leave you here with two words expectation and obedience. If you have no expectation no obedience will follow. Now a direct question we must all ask ourselves. I've really hit at this some. Do we have the mind of Christ? You need to evaluate yourself in relation to this teaching.

I know we've been spending a lot of time and giving a lot of energy towards Christian marriage and children in the home life as we should. We're spending a lot of time placing some emphasis on the home in our small group study and we should but we can't overlook what we're studying on Wednesday night and what I'm showing you is this. We should pause and ask ourselves do we have the mind of Christ? And do we have the mind of Christ in all areas of life? Do we have the mind of Christ in certain areas of life but yet we've compartmentalized. Maybe we've got an area over here that we just seem to shut Christ out. So therefore we are lacking.

Lately I've been talking a lot about the Spirit-filled life. You might say, "Pastor, you have. You've repeated yourself quite a lot." Yes, on purpose. Go look how many times Jesus repeated himself to the disciples. See you don't realize that you're just as slow as they are. I am too. But I've been talking a lot about the Spirit-filled life. The Spirit-controlled life. Remember? It's Spirit-filled. It's Spirit-controlled. It's Spirit-saturated. And what I'm showing you is this. A part of living the Spirit-filled life is having the mind of Christ in every area of life. This all goes together.

It's almost like Paul wrote Ephesians and Philippians. He did. God told him to. Now a couple more things before we move on. First, this was addressed to the church. I touched on this already a little. Not just individuals. Yes, individuals but also the entire church. The English Standard captures the original well here by saying, "Have this mind among yourselves." See? It's all-inclusive. "Have this mind among yourselves. All of you have the mind of Christ." So what that tells me is this. If the majority had the mind of Christ but a few did not, the entire church suffered.

So if the majority of Grace Life Church and Brook Avon have the mind of Christ but some of you do not, well the church is suffering. You see? Paul was clearly addressing the entire church not just individuals. Again, that's why mentors, that's why accountability, that's why having those kind of relationships are very necessary. And then second, there are certain things that Christ did that we cannot mimic. We cannot mimic His acts of redemption, right? We cannot die to redeem men from their sin, but there are certain things about Christ's work of redemption that we can imitate. And we're gonna see that.

And then third, Christ's mind and attitude can be seen and heard in and from His example. His thinking, His manner of thinking can be heard, it can be seen, and it can be understood by examining His life. I thought about an illustration. Think about our own marriage. We can understand our spouse's mind and attitude by listening to what they say, by looking at how they live, and by working to understand our spouse. And this takes getting to know them, this takes time, this takes time with them, this takes effort, this takes listening. My wife and I have a little statement.

She says, "If you love me, you can read my mind." A lot of truth in that. And it's the same way with Christ. It's the same way with having the mind of Christ and understanding His thinking and understanding His attitude. We can see Christ's mind and His attitude by studying what Jesus said, what He did, and working to understand all of those things. Do you realize? We can do this well for an entire lifetime and never get there. So we have Paul's command. He calls these believers and the entire church to have the same mind and the same attitude of Christ in all of them.

Now before I move on from these verses, I've got to ask a couple more questions. Do we want to work to see and understand the thinking, the attitude, and the mind of Christ? It's work. It takes time. It takes study, prayer, more study, digging deep, walking with the Lord day by day. But again, my marriage illustration, men, what happens if we do not work to understand our wife's attitude and thinking? We're in trouble. The doghouse has to get bigger. Right? I mean if we don't work to understand our wife's attitude and thinking, we're in trouble.

But on a serious note, if we do not know and understand the mind and the thinking of our wife as we should, then our relationship with our wife will not be as it should. Right? It's the same in our relationship with Christ. To walk with our Lord as we should, we must study and understand and strive to know his attitude and his thinking and his mind. And again, this takes time. This takes work. This takes effort. This takes you and your Bible and the Holy Spirit of God and time. So Paul's command, have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. The New American had this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.

So that was the first major point or truth. And then number two, notice Paul gives an example, Christ's example. That's in verses 6 to 8. Verses 6 to 8 is all about Christ's example. Now I've already said that we're not going to cover all of these verses. But right here, we're going to see in verse 6 that we're going to get into the deep waters of the Incarnation. Here is where we see who Christ Jesus was and is. And we begin to see all that he did when he left heaven and he came to earth as a man and then he ultimately went to the cross to die for sinful men. And this is how I want to approach what Paul is saying here.

I want to address who Paul says Jesus is then what Paul says that Jesus did. It's real simple. Who Jesus is, what Jesus did. And we need to see that we need to take our time here. Sometimes I feel like I go slow through these verses. And sometimes I feel like I'm doing just what we should do. And right here we should. We must take our time because we must grasp more fully who Jesus is before we can look at what Jesus did when he came to earth. And if we grasp more fully who Jesus is and was, that will help us to see more magnitude what Jesus did in the Incarnation in the implications of what he did in the Incarnation. So first, who Jesus is.

Paul shows us who Jesus is and was in verse 6. The beginning of verse 6. The New American says, "Who although he existed in the form of God." The English Standard says, "Who though he was in the form of God." Notice the difference. The New American, who, Christ, although he existed in the form of God the English Standard, who, that's Christ, though he was in the form of God. Now there are two key words just in this small portion of Scripture. First, this word existed. He existed in the form of God. This speaks of a state of existence which is continual.

This speaks of the very essence of one's very being and that which is unchanging, unalterable, and absolute. William Barclay says, this refers to, and I'm quoting, "That part of a person which in any circumstances remains the same." So Paul is saying that Jesus existed before the Incarnation eternally in an unchanging and absolute manner. He existed and he still exists in a continued state. Unchanging, unalterable, absolute. So first, existed. He existed in the form of God. Second, this word form. The New American says he existed in the form of God.

The English Standard says, "Though he was in the form of God." This word form in our English translations, in the Greek translation, is a word called morphe. Morphe. And I'm probably not pronouncing it quite like I should. Morphe. And morphe speaks of a form that never changes and can never be changed. It is unalterable. It is unchanging. And that is very important to understand this meaning of this word form. It means morphe. Because later Paul uses a different word that's translated form which comes from a different word in the Greek translation and it is schema.

William Barclay explains the definition and the meaning of these two words very well. Listen close and this will help you. He says, and I'm quoting, "Morphay is the essential form which never alters. Schema is the outward form which changes from time to time and from circumstance to circumstance." Barclay continues, "For instance, the essential morphe of any human being is humanity and that never changes. But his schema is continuously changing.

A baby, a child, a boy, a youth, a man, a middle age, an old man always has morphe of humanity but the outward schema form changes all the time." So Paul is saying that Jesus existed in the form of God or in the Greek translation he existed in the morphe form of God. Before he left heaven Jesus existed as God in the unchanging form of God. He was the form, morphe of God. He was equal with God in every way the form, unchanging form of God. Now before I move into what Jesus did I feel that I must emphasize how important it is for us to see who Jesus was before his incarnation.

Before Paul ever mentioned what Jesus did here in verse 6 Paul is explaining who Jesus was before the incarnation. In verse 6 Paul was explaining and emphasizes and emphasizing that before he came to earth Jesus always had been God. By his very nature he had always been the very image of God. The very character of the God had as seen and expressed in all the attributes of God were his before the incarnation and even before time and human history. We see these exact things taught in other places of Scripture. I want to mention just a few. Paul stated the fact that Jesus is deity or God in Colossians 1.15.

He says he, that's Jesus, is the image of the invisible God. In the beginning of his gospel account John said that Jesus was the eternal God with God before the creation of the universe. John 1.1 says in the beginning was the Word, that's Jesus, and the Word was with God, that's Jesus, and the Word was God. Jesus even declared that he was the eternal God. In John 8.58 when he said truly, truly I say to you before Abraham was I am. And he said the very same thing in his great high priestly prayer in John 17.

He said, "And now Father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world ever existed." Probably to me the best New Testament verse besides what Paul gives is found in Hebrews. Chapter 1 verses 2 and 3 the writer of Hebrews says, "But in these last days he," that's God, "has spoken to us by his Son," that's Jesus, "whom he," that's God, "appointed the heir of all things." Who's the heir of all things? Jesus. "Through whom also he created the world." What is he saying? God through Christ created the world. Verse 3, "He," that's Jesus, "is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature.

And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. And after making purification for sins," that's Jesus, "he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." So the writer of Hebrews is clearly saying that Jesus is the very radiance or the expression of God's glory. He is saying that Jesus is the exact representation and perfect imprint of God's nature or his very essence. And what is the point here? What is my point in referencing these passages? The scriptures clearly teach that before Jesus came to earth, he always had been God. By his very nature, Jesus had always been the very image of God.

The character of the Godhead is seen and expressed in all the attributes of God where his before the incarnation and even before human history. So notice what we see here in verse 6, really the first portion. Paul is saying that before he, thus Jesus, came to earth. Jesus always had been God. By his very nature, he had always been the very image of God. The very character of the Godhead is seen and expressed in all of the attributes of God where his before the incarnation and even before human history and time.

But before we get into the actual incarnation and what Jesus did, which is what we see really the end of verse 6 on down to verse 8, I've got to ask us a couple of important questions. Is Paul writing about the pre-incarnate Christ or is Paul talking about the incarnate Christ? Is he talking about the pre-incarnation Christ or the incarnation Christ? Well to me, in one sense, Paul is talking about the pre-incarnate Christ. Paul is emphasizing the fact that before the incarnation and even before time in human history, by his very nature, Jesus had always been the very image of God.

The very attributes of the Godhead as seen and expressed in all the attributes of God were his before the incarnation. And this is important for us to see for at least one major reason. If we fail to see and understand this fact, we alter the Godhead. If we fail to see these things correctly, we alter the eternality and the deity of God the Son. That's what the cults do. A little confession about my study habits. Usually Tuesday is a packed day and Wednesday is a packed day. Well today in the middle of my study, the doorbell rang and I was expecting a package. So I got up and went to the door.

Well it was two men with bibles and Tizar and I immediately thought, they're Jehovah's Witnesses. And I looked at them and I said, y'all are Jehovah's Witnesses. They said yes we are and they smiled. And I said look I'm going to be really honest with you. I'm busy today. I work from home. I've got a lot to do. But I'm going to go ahead and tell you, you believe that Jesus was created. You believe that Jesus was a God. I believe Jesus was God, very God. I said as a matter of fact Paul says in Philippians chapter 2 starting in verse 6, he says that Jesus was Morphe in the form of God. And I rattled off half my sermon right there.

Now why is this important? Am I telling you all of this just so you can hear that I did pretty good with the Jehovah's Witnesses? Listen folks, they're a cult. They're non-tranitarium. They believe that Jesus was created. They're way off the rails. But what I'm trying to show you is this. It's important that we understand these things because if we do not understand properly the Godhead then we are susceptible to false teaching. I don't know the statistics but the number of quote-unquote Baptists who are JWs now is pretty alarming. But of course if they went out from us they never were of us to begin with.

And for us we must see and we must accept the fact that Jesus has always existed as God the Son. And as we will see next week we must see and accept the fact that Jesus was just as much God the Son in the Incarnation as before. And then next week we will also see and we must see and accept the fact that Jesus was just as much God the Son after he provided redemption for man and was raised from the dead and ascended back to the Father. He never ceased to be God. He never ceased to be God the Son ever. But in another sense Paul is talking about both because the two can't be separated.

Now I know I did just separate them but they really can't be. I did that to show you the eternality of Christ. Really I stated this earlier but I broke it down. If you think about it I broke it down in three ways. The pre-incarnate Christ, the incarnate Christ, and then Christ after the ascension. But here we need to see Christ Jesus who in his pre-incarnate state exists equal to God is the very same divine person who in his incarnate condition he became obedient to death even death on a cross. Simply he was and he is and he always will be the eternal Son of God, the very nature of God.

He was and he is before all time in human history all during his incarnation. Right now he is sitting at the right hand of God the Father as God the Son and throughout all of eternity. He never changes. Now again why do I point out these things? This shows us the greatness of Christ's sacrifice. This enables us to love and adore and to worship him in a greater way. Do you see that? Understanding more fully that the eternal Son of God who was and is divine in every way he left heaven, he came to earth, and he died on the cross for sinful men. That enables us to worship him and adore him and love him all the more, more and more and more.

Now as I begin to close because we don't have time to adequately cover what Jesus did, I want to quickly call us to glance at the exalted position that Jesus left and the steps down that he took in his obedience to the Father. And he steps down, down, down, down. Now follow with me throughout the rest of the verses and just take note with this quick glance at how Jesus left his high position and he came down, down, down step by step in his incarnation. First notice step number one the second part of verse six. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. That's very weighty, very weighty.

Then step two verse seven the first part he emptied himself very weighty. All the while he never quit being God. And then notice step number three the middle part of verse seven by taking on the form of a servant. Which word form is that? It's Morphe. He always has and always will be a servant. That's loaded. Step number four the second or the last part of verse seven being born in the likeness of men that speaks to his humanity. He had actual flesh, he had a human nature although he did not sin. And then step five the first part of verse eight being found in human form. The King James uses the word fashion. You know why?

Because they differentiate between Morphe. You see he was found in human form. He had a body that changed. I don't know if he had gray hair. I'm not making a joke. His body changed. And then step six the middle part of verse eight he humbled himself. And then step seven he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. It's a lot for us to cover but I think we can cover it adequately next week. So our example for Christian unity and you might say pastor this has been nothing but a theological lesson and a quick one.

Well you have to understand the theology of all of these things before you can understand what it means practically. Well let's pray. I want us to commit this to the Lord and we've got just a few minutes and we'll look at some prayer needs. So let's pray.