Teaching Towards Unity - Part 2

Let's take our Bibles. Please turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2. We're going to be in those verses that we left off with a few weeks ago, verses 1 to 4. You might not realize it but it's been over a month since we've been together in Philippians. We were last in Philippians June the 7th. As I was looking at that information yesterday and today it made me realize that summer is going by fast. It is going by fast. Whether that's good or not I don't know. But we got started in chapter 2 with verses 1 to 4 and remember those verses are all about the very important subject of unity. Now the title of that message was a part one.

I called it teaching towards unity. Teaching towards unity. Now in that message I pointed out that we are seeing a shift in Paul's teaching direction. In chapter 1 verses 2 to 26 Paul was primarily focusing on himself and his ministry. Of course his ministry and his circumstances did relate to the Philippians and of course he should have taught just like he did teach. He should have given them a report about what was going on in his life. Starting in chapter 1 verse 27 Paul starts to focus on the Philippians and the spiritual needs that they did have and their fellowship.

We saw that Paul was beginning to teach on this subject of unity and this was a great spiritual need for them as individuals and also for them as a church. And he starts with unity in verses 27 to 30. Now I read those verses the last time we were together and I'll show you how he's getting towards unity. You can go back and look at those verses and then he continues with unity starting in verse in chapter 2. Now I have said several times that the Philippian church was a great church, a good church, a healthy church. They were and are a good example, a great example. In many ways they are truly a model church. Think about that.

We can look to churches as model churches. They definitely were a model church and I do think their example can be overlooked and even ignored. I know personally that through the years I think I have overlooked the Philippian church as a model church. I don't know why but I just think that I have overlooked them. But even though they were a very healthy church, a model church, an example for us they had a pressing spiritual need. Now think about it. It jeopardized the very life of the church. I used some of this language last time. They had discord in the church.

They had disunity in the church and they had a level of division but they had the possibility of a greater, if I could use this term, work of division in the church. I said that they had a ticking time bomb on their hands. I think they did. They had a ticking time bomb on their hands. We could also say that they had a leaky roof on the church. We could also say that they had termites in the church house. Within their fellowship they had the dangerous distress of disunity and discord that could have exploded in the division. This situation could have rotted out the foundation of unity and oneness in the church if it was left to grow.

These things could have spread like termites and eaten away at the fellowship from the inside out in all types of directions. And I'm sure you could come up with different ways to describe what this discord and disunity and division could have done in the life of the church. I also tried to explain the gravity of division in the church. I tried to help us see just how dangerous these things truly are and how these things can sneak into the healthiest of churches. And look we should have this attitude. We should have this way of thinking. If discord, if disunity and division can get into the Philippian church well it can get into our church.

But let me offer a caution here. Not that we're paranoid. Not that we're the division police. We don't ever want to be like that. We must be sober minded. We must be attentive to the fact that these things can come into the church. We cannot be naive. I have known lots of people who had a great level of naivety because they would believe that certain things couldn't come into the church. John MacArthur and William Barclay help us here. I shared this before. It needs to be repeated.

MacArthur says although sound doctrine, moral purity, and passionate commitment to the Lord and 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 is the danger of every 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 Barclay continues.

He says it is against that danger that Paul wished to safeguard his friends. His friends would be the Philippians. But we do not need to just take a scholar's opinion. We don't need to just stop here with a scholar like MacArthur or Barclay and take their word for it. Listen to what Paul says in a few other verses. Now if you remember in the conclusion of our last message, I call you to look at what Paul says about division in a few other places. Before I get into the verses, I can't say enough how important these verses are. You need to get them. You need to know them.

In 1 Corinthians 3, 2 to 3, Paul says that jealousy, strife among the body is a work of the flesh and proof of spiritual immaturity. Paul says, and I'm quoting the verses, "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you were not ready." Verse 3, "For you were still in the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" In Galatians 5, 19 to 21, Paul says that strife and jealousy and robberies and dissensions and divisions are works of the flesh. He says that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul says in the verses, and I'm quoting them, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity," and here are the words, "strive, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these." And he goes on to say, "I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Paul says in Romans 16, 17, and 18, that we should avoid those who cause divisions in the church.

Listen to the verses, "I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught." He goes on to say, "Avoid them, for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by smooth-talking flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." And in Titus 3, 10, and 11, Paul shows us how we are to deal with people who are unrepentant of causing division in the life of the church. This is church discipline. Now I want to point something out to you. This is different than what we see in Matthew 18. Simply in Matthew 18, we see a three-step process.

Here there's a two-step process. Paul says, "Ask for a person who stirs up division." Now let me pause here. This is the person who ultimately is unrepentant. "Ask for a person who stirs up division after warning him once then twice have nothing to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful and he is self-condemned." Now I mentioned those verses because Paul is dealing with division, discord, disunity, strife, all of those words that describe this package of sin that is around what we would call division. And those verses again are very important. So let's get into the message.

I'm titling this message tonight, "Teaching Towards Unity Part 2," and that is because it's a continuation of what we studied back on June the 7th, and we're going further in the verses. And I'll go ahead and tell you we're not going to finish them tonight either. We're going to have a part 3 next week, "The Lord Willing." So let's look at our verses. Philippians 2 verses 1 to 4. I'm reading in the ESV version. "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 from 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 here's how we'll approach the verses. I gave this to you in the part 1. Number 1, we're going to look at four incentives towards unity. Now we covered that last time, but I'm going to zoom through it real quickly. Number 2, we looked at four characteristics of unity. Now we quickly looked at that. Now I'm going to flesh that out some more tonight. And then number 3, which we'll get to next week, we see three directives for unity.

And this will be easy for you to follow. So here in verse 1, we see number 1, four incentives towards unity. Let me again read verse 1. "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy." Now we must understand and remember that Paul is not doubting these things. He is not saying, "Well, if there is any encouragement in Christ, really it was the opposite. He was making an argument. He was emphasizing things.

Language scholars say it is better to understand what Paul is saying by saying it like this, because there is encouragement in Christ, because there is comfort from love, and so on. So with the understanding that Paul was emphasizing the reality of these things in their lives, he's not questioning them. Let's look quickly. Let's look back over those incentives rather quickly. So the first incentive, encouragement in Christ, here Paul is saying, "Because there is encouragement in Christ," and the basic meaning of this word encouragement means to come alongside. It means to help. It means to be an aid.

And we know that Christ is our encouragement, because as believers Christ lives within us because he has put the Holy Spirit within us. So look at what Paul is saying here. Again, I'm going back to verse 27, "Because you are to live a life worthy of the gospel and citizenship in the gospel, know for certain that there is great encouragement in Christ and from the Holy Spirit who lives in us." The second incentive, comfort from love. Here Paul is saying, "Because there is comfort from love." And the meaning of this word comfort, it is to come alongside, but it also speaks of a close relationship. It speaks of love. It speaks of concern.

And it's similar to the encouragement. Both words speak of a close relationship which has within it love and genuine concern. And look at the work of the Holy Spirit of God within us here. He encourages us. He comes alongside us. He comforts us. And he comforts us with love and genuine concern. And look at what Paul is saying here, "Because you are to live a life worthy of the gospel and citizenship in the gospel, know for certain that there is great comfort in Christ and from the Holy Spirit of God who dwells in you and in us." And the third incentive, participation in the Spirit. These are coming right out of the verse.

Here Paul is saying, "Because there is participation in the Spirit," and we know the meaning of this word participation. It's participation. It's fellowship. It's partnership. But this is not a participation between believers like we learned earlier in chapter 1. This is a partnership, a fellowship between believers and the Holy Spirit of God. Look at what Paul is saying here, "Because you are to live a life worthy of the gospel and citizenship in the gospel, know for certain that we enjoy a fellowship, a partnership, a participation with and of the Spirit in our lives." And then the fourth incentive, affection and sympathy.

Here Paul is saying, "Because there is affection and sympathy," the new American says, "compassion." Now the meaning of this word affection speaks of one's emotions, and the meaning of this word sympathy or compassion speaks of kindness, pity, and mercy. So look at what Paul is saying here, "Because you are to live a life worthy of the gospel and citizenship in the gospel," verse 27, "know for certain that there is great affection, sympathy, and compassion from the Holy Spirit who lives within us." Now look at how all of these things, look at how all of these things are incentives and they should move us towards unity.

Some commentators call these things the right motives for unity. I like that. Motives, incentives, and I'm going to show us how these things really are incentives, how they really are motivations towards unity by reading verse 1 and then verse 2 in the Amplified. Now you read along. Now if you remember from our first message, the beginning of verse 2, Paul makes a comment about his joy being made complete. I'm going to leave that out, and I'm doing that because that'll help you see how the motives and the incentives are connected to unity. Here we go. I'm reading in the Amplified.

"Therefore if there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ, as there certainly is in abundance, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship that we share in the spirit, if there is any great depth of affection and compassion, being of the same mind, having the same love toward one another, knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose, and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel the good news regarding the salvation through faith in Christ." So what I'm showing you is this. These are motivations, incentives towards unity.

Now at this point I want to make just a few comments and application, and I'm helping us, wanting to help us grasp a greater understanding of these things. But before I get into what I want to share in application, I want to say that the application I made from part one is vital. It's gold. It's critical. You need to get that. You need to go over it. You need to study that. I spent some time this week doing that for myself. You need to absorb that application, and you need to get it, and you need to let it form you.

And you may need to discuss some of those things with an older, more mature believer, even with someone who has lived those things. Now if you didn't get part one, you're in the dark. I know. But go get that, because this all goes together. But this is what I want to say tonight. We must fully understand and live the fact that true Christian unity comes from within. True unity is spiritual, not physical. It is a matter of the heart. It is produced from a work of the Holy Spirit, and it is not centered on external things. We must fully understand that Christian uniformity comes from without.

It very well may be something that a believer is passionate about, and it may be seen as Christian. The believer can be united with other believers in those externals all without a true work of the Spirit in true unity in their lives. Now let me share with you something here. To fully grasp these things, it takes some time for some. It takes some prayer. It can take some meditation. It can take a work of the Spirit. It can also take you dying to some misunderstandings here, and it takes a level of maturity. Again, you've got to go back and get the part one. And look, true Christian unity impacts people positively.

It grows the saints, and it helps to show the lost what the true Christian life looks like. And as a matter of fact, true Christian unity can even be evangelistic. Lost people can look at it and say, "That is otherworldly. That must be of God." But Christian uniformity most all the time attracts those who want uniformity. It attracts those who love externals, and the emphasis on uniformity does not truly help sanctify the saints. It usually makes them legalistic and rule mongers, and it does not help evangelize the lost. Listen folks, rules and rule mongers and legalists never attract lost people.

So unity versus uniformity is important for us to understand because Paul is not dealing with uniformity. He is dealing with true Christian unity. And again, this all goes together, and next week I'm going to tie some of what we shared last time and tonight together. And then number two, in verse two, we see four characteristics of unity. Let me read the verse again. Verse two, "Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind." Now I explained what Paul meant by saying complete my joy. It wasn't that he was not filled with joy or thankfulness for the Philippian believers. He was.

He was saying that if they received his teaching here, if they received the work that God wanted them, wanted to do in them, his joy would be greater. It would be fuller. It would be more complete. And that was because this unity division issue was the one thing they were lacking. And in our part one, we looked at the four characteristics of unity that Paul gave. I zoomed through them. Now tonight I'm going to expound on these things much more. So first, the first characteristic, being of the same mind. This simply means to be like-minded or to think the same way, but Paul is not talking about Christian externals.

He is not even talking about proper doctrine and theology. He is not even talking about biblical morals or moral expectations. Now think about what I just said. Paul is not talking about externals. He's not even talking about good sound doctrine and theology. He's not even talking about biblical morals or moral expectations. Here Paul is calling them to work so as to come to a common understanding and agreement. He is calling them to have the same mind and the same thinking. Therefore, they have a common understanding of all of the things that are before them. Some of you have William McDonald's commentary.

McDonald says, and I'm quoting, "To be like-minded really means to have the mind of Christ, to see things as he would see them and to respond as he would respond." But what does this same mind and thinking look like? Paul says that the only way to have this kind of like-mindedness is to have the attitude, the heart, and the mind of Christ. Later in verse 5 he says, "Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus." But how do we have that mind? How do we have the mind and the heart and the attitude of Christ by letting the Word of Christ dwell richly in us, Colossians 3.16, along with the indwelling work of the Spirit.

Now let me pause here. If you take an unconverted external Christian and they have the Word of God dwelling richly within them without the work of the Holy Spirit, see that won't happen. And notice how this works out. This takes three things and if we miss one of these we fail totally. We acquire the mind and the heart and the attitude of Christ from the Word of God. That's the standard for like-mindedness. Then we have the ability to have the mind and the heart and the attitude of Christ from the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit. That's the enablement, that's the empowerment, that's even the want to.

And then we do these things in the life of the church. That's the only place where these things can truly and fully take place in the life of the church. And think about it. Where is Paul calling these believers to do all these things in the life of their church? You see? Now let me expound on that a little bit more. You can't have like-mindedness divorced from the Scripture. You can't have like-mindedness from the Scripture without a work of the Spirit. And if you do these things outside of the context of the life of the church you can only have like-mindedness to a certain degree, to a certain degree.

And then second, the second characteristic, having the same love. This simply means to show the same love to others, the same love that has been shown to them. Of course this will be the love of Christ, the agape love of Christ. And this is a love which produces the same mercy of Christ and the grace of Christ. Let me give you a little warning here. Sometimes it's hard to identify these kind of people. I'm going to use Christians in quotations. Beware of Christians who cannot or will not demonstrate the same love for others that has been demonstrated for them.

Beware of professing Christians who cannot or will not demonstrate the same love for others that has been demonstrated for them. Sometimes those quote-unquote Christians can seem a lot more godly than they really are. Now notice how these things are related. Having the same love for others naturally comes out of having the same mind. If a believer has the mind, the heart, and the attitude of Christ in them, they will naturally have the same love for others, all others equally. I have known professing Christians, I'm going back to some things I dealt with the last time now.

I have known some professing Christians that if you did not homeschool or private school like they did, well they didn't love you like they did others. Repeat that. I've known some Christians that if you did not homeschool or you did not private school like they did, well they did not love you like they did the ones who do as they do, even in the life of the church. I've been shunned by some people like that. I've been rebuked by some people like that. Now again I say what I said last time, I'm not against homeschooling or private schooling. So don't go misquote me.

I have known professing Christians that if you don't have the same theological positions that they do, well they don't love you the same. They love those who have the same theological positions that they do, and if you don't have the same ones, they don't love you the same. I've even seen that in the life of the church. I've been talked down to because I didn't see something theological just like they did. I've even been made fun of to my face. I've known professing Christians that if you don't hold to the same church confession, well you're not loved the same. You're not as godly as they are and you're not loved the same.

You're even treated as less than or some inferior Christian. I've known professing Christians that if you don't have the same convictions maybe about alcohol or how to raise your children or how to order your home about what you do with your wife or with your husband, what you do or don't do on the Lord's Day and so on. I've seen Christians like that treat people less than, love them less than, treat them as second-rate because they didn't do it the way they did. But notice the love that Paul's talking about does not come out of a man. This is a love that comes from God. Remember this is an agape love.

John MacArthur helps this here and I'm quoting, "On a purely emotional level having equal love for others is impossible." He's right. On a purely emotional level that would be a human level having equal love with others is impossible because people are not equally attractive. But agape love however is the love of the will not of preference or attraction. It is based on an intentional conscience choice to seek the welfare of its subject. It is because agape love is based on the will that it can be commanded. But look church, this can only take place fully and truly in the local church.

Yes we can have a certain amount of this love in a Christian organization outside the church but this love can only take place fully and truly as it should in a local church. Now I want you to ponder a question with me. Where should we see this kind of love in our lives the most in your small group? When you're working at VBS with new people who come into the church who have lots of problems and struggles and difficulties. Even with people who God put in the life of the church who never seem to get over some of their shortcomings and difficulties. Where should you see this the most? Even in the life of the church with Christians who sinned.

Where should you see this the most? When you've been in the church long enough to see the shortcomings, the difficulties, and even the hang-ups of even the leaders. You see remember the context in which Paul's writing these things. The church. Then third, the third characteristic being in full accord. Now we kind of have a strange statement here being in full accord. This is not a full-size Honda car that we can fit in. I don't think I have to tell you that. Actually the new American standard is much better. It reads United in spirit. This simply means to be in harmony with one another so as to work together towards a common goal.

And notice how all of this builds. Being united in spirit is connected to and comes out of having the same mind and the same love. These things are related. You can't untangle them. They're all connected to one another. There is a layer to these things that we need to see. There is something about these things that we must understand. This involves selflessness. Yes, selflessness. To be united in spirit is to be in harmony with one another working towards a common goal. But this is a harmony that is free from selfishness. Self.

MacArthur says, and I'm quoting by definition, it excludes personal ambition, selfishness, hatred, envy, jealousy, and the countless other evils that are the fruit of self-love. But a question here. What's the common goal? If being united in spirit is being in harmony with one another, completely void of self, so as to work towards a common goal, what is the goal? Well, we know the goal or the goals come from one source. First, we know the goal or the goals for the body of Christ and the church from the Word of God. That's the standard for what? Like-mindedness in all of these things.

Second, we have the ability to accept the goals and the goal from the Word of God from the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's the enablement, the empowerment, even the want to. And then third, we do all of these things in the life of the church. That's the only place where these things can truly be fully seen and can take place. Now, I have pondered really a good part of the day today on what it means to be united in spirit. What I mean is to give an example. I'm gonna take a stab at it. I mean, you know that I just came back from an Anchored in Truth mission trip. I went to Scotland. Many things I could say about that.

I'm gonna read the purpose statement of Anchored in Truth. I shared this when I gave my report June the 28th. Anchored in Truth was founded for the purpose of strengthening and planting Bible-saturated Christ-honoring churches for the glory of God. The ministry of Anchored in Truth has turned into a network, a family of church partners, church plants, missionaries in many parts of the world. And I can say that although we are all sinful within the Anchored in Truth family, we are united in spirit because we understand what church missions, evangelism, and the work of the church, we understand it from God's Word.

There's nothing wrong with sports ministry, but we don't see that with Paul. There's nothing wrong with the water well ministry. We really don't see that with Paul. There's nothing wrong with a food ministry, but we don't really see that with Paul. All throughout Paul's missionary journeys, he evangelized the lost, formed them into a church, moved on. He evangelized the lost, formed them into a church, and then he came back to those churches to strengthen them. He wrote those letters and he sent his associates to do what? The very same thing. And so that's what Anchored in Truth is all about.

Now a part of that work with some of them is education. And what's the point of the education? To call pastors and churches, to evangelize the lost, form churches, and move on and do the same thing, and then work towards what? Biblical health. So we are like-minded in missions in all of those things from the Word of God. And we look for the Spirit of God to empower us to do all of these things for the glory of God. And we understand that all of these things take place where? From some kind of denominational structure or no? From the local church. Maybe that helped you to help see it even better.

And then fourth, the fourth characteristic being of one mind. Here the new American says, "Intent on one purpose." This simply means to think the same so as to act the same. This means to think and act the same, therefore revealing that we are governed by the mind of Christ and we are revealing the activity of Christ. And this is basically the same thing that Paul started with in verse 2, being of the same mind. So in summary, look at what we have here in these four characteristics of unity. John MacArthur calls this a full circle of unity. And look, to me it does not get any better than that description. Full circle of unity.

It helped seal the deal in my understanding of these things. Paul calls the Philippians to one mind, into one love, into one spirit, into one purpose, which is actually another way of saying one mind. It's just a circle of unity. Now let me show you something that some of you will get right away and some of you will really have to let it sink in. These characteristics of unity which lead to this full circle of unity can only take place in a healthy local church. Let me repeat that. These characteristics of unity which lead to this full circle of unity can only take place in a healthy local church. Let me give you an example.

What Paul wrote about here could not have taken place in the Corinthian church because they were divided. They were defeated by division before they could ever be unified. The circle of unity was broken because some of them said, "I follow Paul." Others said, "I follow Apollo." Some say, "I follow Cephas." And the real spiritual ones say, "Well, I follow Christ." You see, the circle was broken. Another example. This could not have taken place in the Galatian church because their unity was not around God's Word and the work of the Spirit in them. Their unity was around Jewish legalism which destroys true Christian unity, you see.

And I will expound on this some next week a little more when we touch back on what we just studied. And yes, I did say earlier that we will look at verses 3 to 4, the three directives of unity next week. Now here is how I want us to conclude. First, I call you to study these passages on division that Paul gave. I call you to study maybe the Philippian chapter 4 situation with the division there in their church. I call you to study what Paul teaches about division and this Philippian situation so we will have the negative, the division. We'll have all that in our mind as we should.

And then second, on the positive side, I call you study the part 1 that we looked at back on June the 7th. I call you to study these verses. Make sure you digest and understand these things because this teaching is vital, it's critical, it is life and death for a healthy local church. Yes, bad doctrine can destroy a church. Yes, some kind of a sexual scandal can destroy a church. There are a whole host of things that can destroy a church. If you lose the gospel, you're going to destroy the church. But many times we fail to realize that division can destroy the church far faster than one may know.

Why do you think Paul said in Titus, "The one who will not repent of division, warn them once, twice, and put them out?" And then he says in Romans, "Have nothing to do with them." So let's work to study these things and digest these things and then next week with our part 3 on teaching towards unity. We'll kind of wrap up these verses and then I think we'll have a firm grasp on these things. So let me pray and then we're going to look at some prayer needs.