Teaching Towards Unity - Part 1

Let's take our Bible. Please turn to Philippians chapter 2. We are in our next verses, verses 1 to 4. And I do encourage you to make Philippians a part of your Bible study plan. I know that sometimes Sunday morning can get a little more attention for us and we can overlook what we are studying in Philippians or on any study on Wednesday nights. But I would encourage you to make sure you take Philippians and Ephesians and use that as a part of your devotional time, part of your conversation with your family, with your children, with your spouse. I give you enough, we give you enough spiritual meat to chew on all throughout the week.

But we are going to be in chapter 2 verses 1 to 4. Now last week we finished up chapter 1 and we covered verses 27 to 30 and I titled that message "Living a Life Worthy of the Gospel." Living a life worthy of the gospel, but I added something to that title. I called it "Living a Life Worthy of the Gospel So That." And we looked at the call to live our lives worthy of the gospel of Christ Jesus. We also saw that this phrase in the English Standard Version, "Let your manner of life," the New American uses the word conduct, had an interesting layer of meaning.

In Paul's day that phrase spoke of being a good citizen or one whose conduct honored their government and their government officials, those that they lived under. So in a way Paul was saying, "Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel or let your conduct be worthy of your citizenship in the gospel." And Paul wanted the Philippians to live this type of life for several reasons. That's where that "So That" that's tagged on the title comes from. He wanted this so that they could stand firm in the faith. He wanted them to live a life worthy of the gospel so that they may strive side by side.

He wanted them to live a life worthy of the gospel, even the citizenship in the gospel, so that they may not fear, so that they may suffer for Christ's sake. That's right out of the verses. And of course God wants those things for us as well. Now why do I zoom back over what we learned last week? I do that for a purpose, really two purposes. We saw a shift in Paul's teaching, direction. In chapter 1 verses 2 to 26, really from the beginning of the chapter all the way to verse 26, Paul was focusing on himself. He was sharing about his ministry and what was going on in his life and he needed to.

But starting here in verse 27, Paul begins to focus on the Philippians and their spiritual needs. And this leads us to our verses tonight, chapter 2 verses 1 to 4. Here we will see that Paul is teaching towards a great and serious spiritual need in the life of their church. Now although the Philippian church was a model church in so many ways, they were facing a great and deep spiritual need. They had a very serious internal problem, disunity, discord, and the possibility of division in the church. They had in their hands, I call it a ticking time bomb, which was the dangerous distress of disunity and discord in their fellowship.

And this ticking time bomb could explode into a division that could destroy what God had divinely joined together and that was their local fellowship, their local body. And we will see that Paul is easing into this problem with some specific teaching. But he does not mention disunity. He doesn't mention discord. He doesn't mention division. He will a little later on in the book. Instead, Paul is talking a lot about unity and he did this in verse 27. It's part of what we covered last week. Now let me read verse 27 and see if you can notice that Paul is starting to deal with the subject of unity.

Paul says, "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 that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." Now as we read our verses for tonight, number two verses one to four, see if you can notice that Paul was focusing on the same subject of unity. So look at those verses.

Paul says, "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, do nothing out of selfish ambition or 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." Now that leads me to the title of the message. I call this teaching towards unity because that's what he's doing, teaching towards unity.

And I call this teaching towards unity because Paul is teaching towards the subject of unity up against the danger of disunity, the danger of discord that was in their fellowship. I call this issue a ticking time bomb that could explode into division that could destroy the church. Now think with me for a minute. We know that Christ said that he will build his church and nothing will destroy that. He even said that the gates of Hades, hell, Satan, anything that the enemy could throw against it will not destroy his church. But yet we do know that churches are destroyed. And what I'm trying to show you is this.

Division can truthfully destroy a church. We've seen it. Some of us have been victims of those kinds of things. Now before we get into our verses, I want to address a particular reality in the church today. I believe most people in the church do not understand the danger of disunity and discord that can lead to division. Most do not see disunity that leads to division as the destructive danger that it is. Now if we were to make a list, begin to talk amongst ourselves, maybe get someone to start writing some things down.

If we were to begin to make a list of the most dangerous things that could get into the church, most of us would list things like this. Somebody might start off with mentioning gross sexual sin. Someone might say, "Pastor, you know if we were to have a sexual abuse scandal in the life of the church, that could destroy our church." Someone might say something like this, denying fundamental doctrines. That could destroy our church. Someone might say, "Well, Pastor, you know if we did not say the virgin birth, that could destroy our church." Someone might say altering fundamental doctrines.

Some of you might raise your hand and say, "Well, I know our Pentecostal friends alter the Godhead. They have a strange view of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit." Some of you could say, "Well, that could destroy the church." Some of you might be a little more pragmatic, not in a bad way. You might say, "Well, Pastor, unbiblical methods will destroy the church." Some of you might say something like this, allowing women ministers in the church. That will destroy the church. You see how we can be thinking alike? And look, any and all of those things are destructive. We know that.

But we must see that disunity and discord that leads to division is just as dangerous as those types of sins, if not more dangerous. Now, I do not have time to give you the verses to back up this statement. I can't give you everything. You've got to go study some on your own. But of all of the letters that Paul wrote to churches, in every letter he dealt with the danger of disunity and division in all of them to some degree. Now think about it. Paul wrote 12 or 13 letters to churches. I say 12 or 13 because some think that Paul wrote Hebrews.

He wrote nine letters directly to churches with two of those churches getting two letters, the Corinthians and the Thessalonica. He wrote two letters indirectly to one church. That's because he wrote the letters 1 and 2, Timothy to Timothy, but he was a pastor there at Ephesus. He wrote one letter to Titus who was a minister to the churches plural on the island of Crete. So think about it. That's quite a few local churches that all of his writing was going to. And in every letter to some degree, Paul addressed the danger of disunity and discord, which can lead to division.

Now, why do I take the time to address unity and division like this, even before we get into the verses? I do that because of how dangerous this is and how this problem can slip into the church when we least expect it. John MacArthur and William Barclay, two scholars, help us see the magnitude of this danger. They help us see the sly and sneaky backdoor nature of this kind of sin. MacArthur says, and I'm quoting, "All those sound doctrine, moral purity, and passionate commitment to the Lord and to His work are essential to a church's effective ministry.

They alone cannot guarantee protection from discord." William Barclay says, "The one danger which threatened the Philippian church was that of disunity." He goes on to say, "There is a sense in which that this is the danger of even a healthy church. It is when people are really earnest, when their beliefs really matter to them, that they are apt to get up against each other. The greater the enthusiasm, the greater the danger that they may collide." And he says, "It is against that danger Paul wished to safeguard his friends." That's the Philippians. Now, let me give you a little warning here.

We are always in danger of disunity and discord seeping into the church. We are a healthy church. We have needs, sure. We have growing pains, of course. But we are a healthy church, and I could give a list there. As a matter of fact, I may even need to be preaching a sermon or two on what a healthy church looks like. And when God is growing us, and when we are very earnest, when our beliefs really matter to us, when our convictions mean something, and they do, that is when we are apt to get up against each other, when we are enthusiastic in our beliefs and in our convictions and how we live out our Christian life.

There is a great danger that we may collide with each other in our beliefs and convictions. So it is up against this danger that Paul gives some safeguards, and I think these are safeguards that we need. Now, let's get into our message. Again, this is teaching towards unity. This is a part one because we cannot cover all of this tonight. We are going to be covering verses 1 and 2, or excuse me, verses 1 to 4. And we are going to examine three major truths. We are going to look at number one, four incentives towards unity. Then second, or number two, four characteristics of unity. And then number three, three directives for unity.

Tonight we'll look at the four incentives, and then we'll look at the four characteristics real quickly, and then we will pick up with the characteristics and the directives the next time we are together in Philippians. So, number one, we see in verse one four incentives towards unity. Now, when we look at what Paul is saying in verse one, we will see that he is trying to motivate them towards unity. Now remember, this church had within it disunity. There was a disagreement and a division between two prominent women in the church. We will get to that in chapter four.

But before we get into these incentives, we need to see something in the language here. The English standard starts off the verse by saying, "So if there." The King James says, "If there be." The New American says, "If therefore there is any." But we need to see that Paul was not doubting things. He was not saying, "Well, if there is any encouragement in Christ." He was making an argument. He was emphasizing things. One scholar offers a translation of what the original says that really helps us see what Paul is saying. He translated the verse like this by saying, "If then there is any encouragement in Christ and there surely is.

If any comfort from love and there surely is. If any participation in the spirit and there surely is. And if any affection and sympathy and there surely is." Some scholars simply say it's better to understand this as because or sense at the beginning of the verse. So the verse could read, "Because there is encouragement in Christ." Since there is comfort in love, because there is participation in the spirit, because there is affection and sympathy. So with that in our minds, let's look at the incentives because we had to understand Paul's approach. So the first incentive, encouragement in Christ. Look at verse 1.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ." Now the basic meaning of this word encouragement means to come alongside to help. And the meaning of this word is beautifully illustrated in a parable that we know, the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan came upon one that had been beaten and robbed and left for dead. We know the story. So he came alongside and he helped that poor man. He was an encouragement. We also see this in the work of the Holy Spirit. John chapter 14, Jesus told his disciples that he would not leave them as orphans, but he would send them the Holy Spirit to be with them as their helper.

Of course we know that as New Testament believers, the Holy Spirit lives within us. The Spirit feels us and empowers us to live the Christian life. So he, the Holy Spirit, he provides the encouragement that we need. So he comes alongside and he encourages us. But there's something else here in the language. Scholars tell us this, "So if there," and I'm reading the English standard, "So if there is," that it's connected to what was previously said. Basically this is what Paul was saying.

Because you are to live a life worthy of the gospel, worthy of gospel citizenship, know for certain that there is great encouragement in Christ and from the Holy Spirit of God. See how it all ties together? Then the second incentive, comfort and love. Look back at the verse, verse 1, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love." Here the English standard uses the word comfort. The New American, the King James uses the word consolation. And the meaning of this word speaks to someone coming alongside to give comfort in even a very close and intimate way.

And this comfort, this consolation is similar to the encouragement that we just looked at. Both words speak of a close relationship which has within it love and a genuine concern. The meaning of this word is illustrated in the comfort that the Holy Spirit gives the lost sinner who finally comes to saving grace. The Holy Spirit comforts them. The Spirit consoles them. And basically this is what Paul is saying here. He's saying in living a life worthy of the gospel and citizenship in the gospel, know for certain that there is great comfort and consolation where? In the love of Christ. And then the third incentive, participation in the Spirit.

Again, look back at the verse, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit." Here the New American and the King James say, "Fellowship of the spirit." And the meaning of this word, fellowship, is something we know. This speaks of a fellowship, a partnership, a mutual participation. But this is different than the one we looked at in verse 12 of chapter 1. This is not a fellowship and a partnership or a participation between believers. This is between the believer and the spirit. And basically this is what Paul was saying here.

In living a life worthy of the gospel and citizenship in the gospel, know for certain that we enjoy a fellowship, a partnership, a participation of the Spirit and in the Spirit. And then the fourth incentive, affection and sympathy. Again, the verse, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy." The New American says, "affection and compassion." MacArthur says, he says, "The qualities of affection and sympathy characterize Christ, who tenderly comforts and encourages the weak and the oppressed.

Such graces are also the blessings of the Spirit of Christ." And the meaning of this word, affection, is interesting. It literally speaks of the bowels, which is used metaphorically of one's emotions. That's why the King James uses that type of language. And this compassion speaks of kindness and pity and mercy. It speaks of relieving someone of their sorrow. And basically this is what Paul is saying here. In living a life worthy of the gospel and living a life worthy of citizenship in the gospel, know for certain that we enjoy the affection and the sympathy of the Spirit of Christ in us.

So look at what Paul was saying to the Philippian church. His friends, those he loved. In living a life worthy of the gospel, worthy of citizenship in the gospel, so that they could stand firm in the faith, so that they may strive side by side, so that they may not fear, so that they may suffer for Christ's sake. And he says, "Do all of those things, knowing certain things for certain." There is encouragement in Christ. There is comfort from love. There is participation in the Spirit. There is affection and sympathy. So we see these incentives. They're motives that should have motivated them towards unity. Now what do we need to learn here?

Besides basic spiritual truth. Basically there is a lot, quite a lot. And you need this more than you know. Notice that all of these incentives for and towards unity are spiritual and have to do with Christ and the Holy Spirit. Let me repeat that. Notice that all these incentives for unity, towards unity are spiritual and they have to do with Christ and the Holy Spirit and the relationship, the believer has with Christ and the Holy Spirit. Think back to what we saw in the verse. Encouragement from and in Christ. Comfort from the love of Christ. A mutual participation, fellowship, partnership in the Holy Spirit.

And affection and compassion from Christ Jesus and from the Holy Spirit. And notice something else. All these incentives have to do with matters of the heart and they have nothing to do with externals. These things are spiritual and internal matters of the heart. And this is the opposite of what we often see. Most today look at externals and external things to motivate them towards unity. And many times these things can be Christian things. Let me say that again. So many today look at external things to motivate them to, towards unity. And many times these things are Christian things. I'll give you an example.

There are external things that can motivate us towards unity that we are familiar with. One that you're not as familiar with, but it'll help. I had a friend of mine that was a minister on staff at a church. Their church had owned a private school, a Christian school. Now before I continue, I want to tell you I'm not against private school. I'm not against private Christian school. But that church started a school, years gone by, someone left money for the church to start that school, so the church owned the school. But here was the problem.

Almost all of the unity within the church did not come from a unity that was spiritual of the heart, it came from Christ. Almost all of the unity in the church came from their identity with the school and the Christian education. It was external. And all of the church unified around the school and all of the activities of the school. And when someone came into the church who was not a part of the school, they were never a part of the body, the church, the believers. You see? Now I'll give you an example that some of us can relate to. Some of you can relate to private school. It's very popular today for people to homeschool.

Let me preface this by saying I'm for homeschooling. I've said this many times, I'm for however the Lord leads you to school your child, private, public, homeschooling. That is a matter of the Christian conscience, Romans chapter 14. But there are people who unify only around homeschooling. And sometimes when you're in that environment, people will unify only around homeschooling and those who are believers and brothers and sisters, if they cannot unify around that external well, there's no unity. Let me give you another example. There are some churches and Christian groups, they unify around certain theological positions.

Baptists will unify around Baptist distinctives. Presbyterians will unify around Presbyterian distinctives. Some in what we would call reformed camps, they will unify around a common confession. And what they will do is they will unify around those externals. I'm not saying they're bad. And if you don't unify with those externals, well then there is no unity. This one will surprise you. Sometimes people in the life of the church are unified around hobbies and lifestyle choices. I've seen folks over here, they have unity in the church because they all hunt together, fish together, go to the fish camp together and do all that.

And folks over to the left that don't do those things, they have no unity because that unity in that group is all about externals. Now I'm not against any of those things. So don't walk out of here and say pastors against private schooling. Don't do that. I'm using those as examples. And look, Christians can all be unified in those particular externals but still not be motivated towards true Christian unity like we see in the verses. That needs to be repeated. Christians can all be unified in those particular externals but still not be motivated towards true Christian unity like we see in these verses and what Paul's going to unfold for us.

Let me take this a little further to help us better understand these things. We need to understand the difference between Christian unity and Christian uniformity. Christian unity comes from within. Paul's going to deal with matters of the heart. Christian unity is produced from a work of the Holy Spirit of God from within. Christian uniformity comes from without. Although it may be something the believer is passionate about, it may be seen as Christian. I'm not saying it's evil. The believer can be unified with others in those external things without a work of the Spirit and true unity.

And when you get a church full of believers who are unified in Christ because of a work of the Holy Spirit of God, those externals have no bearing on those relationships. There's no rub, there's no conflict, there's no disagreement. But when you get a church full of believers who are unified by externals, any externals, even those things that are good externals, those things will have a bearing on those relationships. And that is because those externals are what unifies, not Christ, not a work of the Spirit of God in the life. And often there will be rubs, different disagreements and conflicts. You see? Now I want to say something.

I've seen some of the most "spiritual people." I've seen some be very impressive. They look the part and they unify over some of these externals and they destroy the unity of the church. Now some of you who have not been a Christian very long, you might struggle to grasp this. Sometimes I have to say, "Trust your pastor. Trust your pastor here." Some of these more mature believers get this. They know what this means. And sometimes someone will come into the church and they got it all together and they seem so spiritual and they unify over these externals and they're not sinful. But their unity is external. It's not internal.

And then those who do not live externally like they do, there's a rub, there's a conflict, there's hurt. And sometimes that really fractures the unity of the church. Now why is it important? Why do I take so much time here? Because disunity, discord and those things that can lead to division are always lurking outside the door of a healthy church. So four incentives towards unity. And we must ask ourselves, "What motivates us towards unity and what are we seeking to be unified in?" Let me state that again. What motivates us towards unity and what are we seeking to be unified in? Now before I move on, I'm going to say one more thing.

I'm not saying any of those things that I mentioned are wrong. I'm telling you, I'm not against public school, I'm not against private school, I'm not against homeschool, I'm not against a theological camp or a church confession. I'm not against any of that. So please don't misquote me or misunderstand me. And I say this from time to time, if I've stirred up a question or two, I'll be glad to help you. Some of you really got what I was aiming at because I saw your affirmation. And then number two, in verse two we see four characteristics of unity, four characteristics of unity.

Now tonight we will not have time to cover all that we need to cover here, but we're really going to get started. But before we get into the characteristics of unity that Paul gives here, we need to see Paul's heart in these things. This is extremely important. We see this in verse two when Paul says, "Complete my joy." Notice he says, "Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord with one another, or being full accord and of one mind." Now question, what does Paul mean when he says, "Complete my joy"? Was Paul somehow disappointed in them?

Was Paul like hurt or grieved or saw some kind of a shortcoming in them? Of course not. Paul had great joy and thankfulness in his heart for the Philippians. We know this. In chapter one, verses one to three, Paul says, "I thank my God in all of my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now." So what does Paul mean here when he says, "Complete my joy"? Notice up to this point, Paul was filled with joy for the Philippians, but they still had a great need that he was addressing. So they needed to absorb this teaching.

They needed to obey this teaching so as to live a life worthy of the Gospel, therefore being unified as they should be. And Paul was saying that if they did absorb these things and obey these things, William McDonald says it like this, his cup of joy would be overflowing. I thought about an analogy. This might not be quite there. You know when a couple is having a baby? They're full of joy. I mean, she's pregnant and they're going to the doctor and they're getting a baby room ready and they got a basket in front of the church and people are bringing stuff. All that good stuff.

They're full of joy, but that joy is not complete and overflowing until when? Until the baby comes. And so what Paul is saying is this, he had great joy for them, but he was saying his joy would be made complete when they get all that he was trying to give them about what? Unity. Now let's read verse two and then I'll show you how I'm going to approach the verse. Paul says, "Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." The New American says, "United in spirit." Now here Paul gives four characteristics of unity.

Tonight what I'm going to do is briefly cover these characteristics and then the next time we meet I'm going to go more in depth here. I'm going to take these characteristics and go a little bit deeper and then we'll look at the three directives from verses three to four. So the first characteristic, being of the same mind. Now this simply means to be like-minded, which means to have the mind of Christ and to have the mind of Christ in these things as he sees them and the results responding as Christ would. See? When you have the mind of Christ, you see things the way Christ sees them and the results, you respond like Christ.

The second characteristic, having the same love. This simply means to show to others the same love that you have been shown. Of course this would be the love of Christ or the agape love of Christ. Then the third characteristic, being in full accord. Now that is a strange statement. I like the New American a little better. It reads, "United in spirit." This simply means to be in harmony with one another so as to work together in one work and in one goal. And then the fourth characteristic, being of one mind.

This means to think the same and to act the same in such a way that it reveals the mind of Christ and the mind of Christ governing the activity. So here Paul, he calls them to fill his cup up with joy by making sure that they have these characteristics of unity in their lives. And to me, this has the sense of examination. He gave them the incentives or the motives that should move them towards unity. Here he calls them to examine and see if they have these characteristics of unity and next time we will see that he gives these three directives, commands, admonitions for unity.

Now at this point I want us to see that we should examine ourselves. Don't wait till we come back for the part 2 and I give it all to you. We need to take verse 2, easy to see, and we need to use verse 2 to examine to see if we have these characteristics in our lives. Do you have the same mind as the believers in the church? Do you have the same mind as other brothers and sisters in the church? Therefore you are all thinking alike, thinking like Christ? Do you have the same love as believers in the church? Believers in the church who are mature believers? Do you have the same love that they have? Therefore you love with the love of Christ?

Are you united in spirit with other mature believers in the church? Therefore you are all united with one goal and one work? Are you all of one mind? Are you of one mind with other mature believers so that you think like mature believers? You think the same way? Therefore you act the same way? You see those characteristics? And until we meet I think we all need to pray over those characteristics and ask, "Lord, do we see these things in our lives?" But I want to tell you something here before we move on. I don't want to hurt your feelings but your heart is deceitfully wicked above all things just like mine.

So what you might need to do is pray over these and ask your spouse. He can tell you, she can tell you. Maybe talk to a brother or sister in your small group that you've gotten close to. Ask them if they see these things in your life. Maybe even counsel with your small group leader if you think you need to or me. What I'm trying to show you is this. Don't just read the verse, pray for five minutes and then move on. No, examine and ask and see if these characteristics are truly in your life. Now here's how I want to close. I want to make three points of observation and application. Three points of observation and application here.

Number one, notice I've used two words often, disunity and discord. Disunity and discord. Disunity, discord and division that comes from disunity and discord. See it starts somewhere folks. It starts somewhere. Disunity, discord and division that comes from disunity and discord can come into the healthiest of churches. Think about the Philippian church. They had no theological problems. Now the Judaizers were knocking at their door. They were generous. They gave the best man they had to Paul and his ministry. They gave sacrificially monetarily. As a matter of fact, Paul said that they gave out of their great poverty. They were a model church.

There was nothing you could accuse them of. So what I'm showing you is this. Other than the division, the unity issue, there was nothing wrong with this fellowship. So what we need to see is if the Philippian church, as healthy as they were can have a problem with discord, disunity and division. Well, we can too. And so what we must learn here is it's always trying to sneak in the door. Now we don't walk around paranoid. No, no, we're just ready. We know that it can be right around the corner. We're sober wide eyed and ready if it does come.

And then number two, disunity and discord that turns into division is what I believe one of the most dangerous sins that can come into the church. Look at how Paul calls the church to deal with division. I'm going to give you a homework assignment. I would love to see you do this. Now I have all this information together, but I didn't bring it. Go take your new Testament and you go study the passages that deal with division. You look at the passage in Matthew 18 about church discipline. You look at how Paul calls the church to deal with divisive people. I give you a hint. Titus. It's in the book of Titus.

And what I'm trying to show you is this. Paul deals with division in a lot different way than you may think. He's swift. He's decisive. You don't wait around. And the point I'm trying to make is it is one of the most dangerous sins that can come into the life of a church. And then number three, and this one is very important. You prepare to deal with disunity and discord that leads to division not by studying the division first, but by studying true Christian unity. You see? If you start by studying the division and divisions, well, you will become the division police.

And if you become the division police, then you will do all of that in the flesh. And what I'm trying to show you is this. You deal with disunity and discord and all of these things by studying true Christian unity because you're equipped to deal with division if you are unified as a body. See? Now notice, Paul teaches on unity long before he gets to the division. We would have done the opposite. We would have dealt with the division and the women who were involved in division in chapter one. He teaches on unity long before he gets to division. And notice something else. Paul never mentions what they are divided over.

Maybe it was unimportant. Of course, there are times when we see that the division and what they're divided over is brought to the forefront. So this is what I'm calling teaching towards unity. Paul was teaching towards unity, moving them towards unity. And I believe that you are seeing that even it started in verse 27 from last week's passages.