Teaching Towards Unity - Part 3

If you would take your Bible and turn back to the book of Philippians. We have been in Philippians for quite a while. I hope that you have been studying on your own and reading on your own. I always encourage you to read ahead of where we're studying and read behind. You know, sometimes I'll go back and read some things that we have covered weeks and weeks ago, and it's good for me to do that. I would encourage you to make that a part of your study. Anything that we're studying in the life of the church, make sure that you're a good student.

We finished up our study in Genesis 1 to 11, and maybe it would be good for all of us to go back and maybe read those verses and those chapters, just so we'll be good stewards. But tonight we're going to be again in verses 1 to 4. Now I think you know that I have been slowly working my way through those verses. I've been taking my time and I've been covering these verses real slowly for two reasons. First of all because of how much that is contained in the verses. These verses are packed with truth that is much needed, so it just takes time to unpack everything that we see here.

As a matter of fact, even today, some of the resources that I study, I noticed that some of them skipped over a few things, and I was a little frustrated. I thought, "Why didn't you cover some of that?" Because I felt the need to do that on my own. But second, how important this subject and this teaching is. Discord and unity, I know I've used those two words quite a bit. And discord and unity that leads to division in the church, all of those things are some of the most dangerous and destructive sins that can come into the church. And that's why I gave us some additional verses last week.

And think about two portions of scripture that I gave us last week. Paul shows us that discord and disunity and things that are akin to discord and disunity, all those things are a work of the flesh. He shows us that those things are sinful. Listen to 1 Corinthians 3, 2 to 3. Paul says, "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and even now you are not ready for it." He's really pointing out their immaturity. I think you see that. Verse 3, "For you were still of the flesh." He doesn't just say they're immature.

He says they're fleshly sinful, "For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" And notice he says that jealousy and strife are works of the flesh. And jealousy and strife are akin to discord and disunity and division. And he says that those besetting sins, that's what was going on in the life of the Corinthian church. Those were besetting sins. They had made them terribly immature.

And then in Galatians 5, 19 to 21, Paul says, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, and jealousy." He says, "Fits of anger," and then notice rivalries and dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these, "I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things that would be habitually will not inherit the kingdom of God." Now notice the same thing. He says that enmity, strife, jealousy, rivalries, dissensions, and divisions are works of the flesh.

And he goes on to say those who continuously do those things, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. That means they won't go to heaven. Now think about two other portions of scripture I gave us last week. Paul shows us how to deal with discord and disunity and the things that are akin to discord and disunity. He shows us how to deal with the people who spread those things in the church. In Romans 16, 17 to 18, he says, "I appeal to you brothers," so these are brothers, "to watch out for those who cause divisions, and they create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught." He says, "Avoid them," at the end of verse 17.

And he goes on to say about these people, "For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive." And notice Paul says to watch out for those who cause divisions. He says, "Avoid them, for they do not serve Christ, but their own sinful appetites." He says, "They deceive the hearts of the naive by using smooth talk and flattery." And then in Titus 3, 10 to 11, Paul says, "For a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful." He is self-condemned.

And notice here Paul says that the person who continuously stirs up division should ultimately be put out of the church after two warnings. This is church discipline. He says they are warped, which means they are perverted. This means that they twist, they invert things, and they do these things for sinful reasons. Now right here, I want to give you two vital lessons that come out of what I've just given you. These lessons will help us deal with division and those who spread division in the church. The first lesson, always look behind the lipstick. Yes, always look behind the lipstick.

Have you ever heard that phrase, "You can't put lipstick on a pig"? What does that mean? It just means that you can dress up a pig, but it's still a pig. You can clean up and dress up a pig, but that pig is still going to go straight back to the mud. And look, divisive people, people who are jealous, and their jealousy leads them to stir up jealousy and strife in the church. Those who stir up rivalries and dissensions and divisions, those who will not repent of those things and they continue to do those things in the church, they always have some super spiritual reason or reasons for their actions.

They have a super spiritual facade, a covering. That is their lipstick that hides their insidious motives and desires. And it is the spiritual facade, this covering, this lipstick that fools people into following them. Listen again to Romans, we read it earlier, 16, verse 18. At the end he says, "By smooth talking flattery," that's the lipstick. "By smooth talking flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." And then the second lesson, look for the bait and switch. Look for the bait and switch. Have any of you ever heard that term, bait and switch? Well, what does that mean? I tell you what it means.

It means that this fall I'm going to put out some sour corn for the wild pigs and I'm going to bait them up. But when they do come to eat that sour corn, I'm going to pull a switch and I'm going to shoot one with my bow. Or Maggie will shoot one with her crossbow. Or she might shoot one with her .308. Truthfully if I shoot one she'll be mad. And people who stir up robberies, dissensions and divisions, they always have public reasons for their behavior. But hidden away in their heart they have a private reason of reasons. And in time those private reasons usually almost always come out.

In time the bait, which is the public reason, that's the lipstick on the pig, that will be switched out because they will eventually get to their private reason of reasons. In time their private reason of reasons for stirring up divisions and dissensions always come out. And it comes out of their own appetites. Remember the language in verse 18. Now why do I take the time there? Folks, the Philippian church was a model church, a healthy church. But they did have this problem of division. And Paul is addressing that. He's teaching towards that. And we should make sure that we are always sober.

And these types of lessons help form us and equip us. And hopefully you will absorb those things and let them equip you for the future. Because division and these types of things could come into our church. We have to always be ready. Now let's look back at our verses. Or let's finally get to them. I have said several times that Paul is making a shift in his teaching starting in chapter one verse 21. He starts to focus on the needs of the Philippians. I've mentioned that. And their one pressing need was division and unity. They had division that needed to be dealt with and they needed unity.

There was a division in the church that involved two prominent women. He was beginning to address this issue. And he addresses the issue by teaching on unity before he ever gets to the division. So let's get to our message. I'm still carrying the same title that we've had the past two weeks. Teaching towards unity. This is a part three. Now let's read our verses. Verses one to four.

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 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 the interests of others." Now let me show you how we'll approach the verses. I've given you this outline two times already. In part one we examine the four incentives towards unity.

I'll briefly mention those and there have a few other things I want to share there. Some things that didn't make the cut last week. In part two we examine four characteristics of unity. We'll zoom through those and I also have a few more things to say there as well. And then tonight for the first time we'll look at four directives for unity. Four directives. Now I have been saying there are three directives, but I made a little change today when I was finishing up and I will explain that a little later. Four directives. So we've seen in verse one four incentives. You could call these motivations towards unity.

Now we understand that Paul was not casting doubt on any of these things by saying if there is any encouragement in Christ, he was actually saying the opposite. Some scholars tell us that Paul was actually saying something like this because there is encouragement in Christ, because there is comfort in love, because there is participation in the spirit, because there is affection and sympathy. And we have learned that Paul was saying that these things were truly a part of their lives. Encouragement in Christ. Comfort from love. And this was the Holy Spirit of God in them. Participation of and in the spirit working in them.

And affection and sympathy from the spirit who was working in them. And these things were to serve as motivations towards unity. These were to be incentives. Let me give you a good example of what this means. Say I'm counseling a husband and a wife who have a few problems. Let's say they've been married say 15 years and they got three children. They love the Lord and been a part of the church all these years. There's a little fighting going on. They're not getting along. They're having some money problems. There's having some job stresses. They're having some difficulties with the kids. That's a normal scenario.

Well I could say to the husband and the wife, I could say don't you love each other? Say sure we do. Haven't you both said that God brought you together? They would say sure. Has it God been at the center of your marriage all of these years even through the difficulties? They would say sure. I'd say don't you both love your kids? Sure. Don't you both want what is best for your home and your family and your children? They would say sure. Haven't you all had a good marriage and a good family all these years and haven't you both said that God's even used you in the life of the church? They'd say sure.

And hasn't God been the center of your family all these years? And they'd say sure. Well I could say to that husband and wife, don't you think that you guys can forgive and bury the hatchet because of how God has blessed your family? Can't you guys forgive and forget and focus on the love that you have had for each other all of these years? Do you see the motivations and the incentives? You see? The motivations, the incentives. Look at what God's done in your family all these years. And maybe that hypothetical husband and wife says yeah. It's motivation enough for us to bury the hatchet and forgive and forget. So look at these incentives.

These motivations that Paul gives these Christians, he is saying because there is great encouragement from Christ who lives in you since there is wonderful comfort from the love of Christ because there is fellowship and participation of the Holy Spirit in all of you. And since there is a great affection and sympathy from the Spirit in you, Paul is saying because of all of these things make my joy for you greater and more abundant by being unified, by fixing whatever is dividing you, by guarding and protecting the unity of the church. And I hope you've gotten those motives.

Now before I move on I want to make a few more points of application because all of this is so important. Remember that true Christian unity pertains to matters of the heart. When I say matters of the heart, I mean that these are works of the Spirit of God within the heart so these things are manifestations of a work of God in the believer. So true Christian unity comes from within. It's a matter of the heart. Unity is produced from a work of the Spirit of God within and it is a matter of the heart but it comes out in certain types of behavior. And also Christian uniformity is not the same as unity. Uniformity comes from without.

Uniformity is produced from a work of man. It can be from a work of man and it always pertains to externals. And uniformity can be completely void of a heart that has been changed by the Spirit, yes. Uniformity can be void of a heart that even loves God. And when we have a church that is full of believers who are unified in Christ because of the work of the Spirit, externals will not have bearings on those relationships. There will not be conflict or disagreement from those externals. And when and if they do come up, they'll be worked out.

But when you have a church full of believers who are unified by externals, even things that are seen as good Christian things, those things will have a bearing on relationships in the church. And because those externals are what unifies, not Christ and the work of the Spirit in the life, there will be disagreements and conflicts when believers who do not have the same externals appear in the church. And look church, I take my time here.

I have retaught these verses and I have given you some new information here because understanding the difference between true Christian unity and Christian uniformity and being on the right side of these things can be a matter of life and death in the church. Don't be the one that's naive. Remember verse 18? And look church, if you have a true church but you build the unity of the church around externals and uniformity, that will quench and grieve the work of the Spirit.

But if you have a true church and you build the unity of the church around what Paul gives us here, that will pave the way, open the door for the Spirit to work in the church and through the church. And then number two, we have seen in verse two, four characteristics of unity. Four characteristics of unity. Then again to 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 covered these things thoroughly last week but I want to glance at them and then I'm going to give you some other information as well. The first characteristic, having the same mind.

Again Paul is not talking about externals. He is not thinking of proper doctrine or even biblical morals or moral standards. Maybe he's calling them to work past any disagreements or differences so as to come to a common understanding and agreement. He was calling them to have the same mind and thinking so that they would have a common understanding in all of the things in the church that were before all of them. So does this mean that all involved simply think like the most respected Christian in the church?

Does this mean that all involved there in the Philippian church, does this mean that they should think like a man or a woman in the church that has the best reputation? Does this mean that all that are involved in these circumstances should think like the man with the strongest theology in the church? No. I went into this at length last week. To have the same mind and thinking means to have the same mind, heart and attitude of Christ. That is imperative. To have the same mind here that Paul is talking about, it means to have the same mind, heart and attitude of Christ.

Not the mind and the heart, not the mind and the heart and the attitude of John MacArthur. Not the heart and the mind and attitude of Paul Washer. Not the heart and the mind and attitude of Alistair Begg or Vody Baucom or Jeff Noblett. And not to have the heart and the mind and attitude of Chris Shepherd. And we get the same mind by all having the attitude and the heart and the mind of Christ. And we get the attitude and the heart and the mind of Christ from God's Word. And it is the spirit that enables us and helps us in these things. Then the second characteristic. The second characteristic, having the same love.

This simply means to show the same love for others. And that same love is a love that has been shown to them or us. This means to love others with the love of Christ that has been shown to them or shown to us. And notice how these things are related. Having the same love naturally comes out of having the same mind. If a believer has the very same mind and heart and attitude of Christ in them, they will naturally have the same love for others. All others equally. Show me someone who does not love others the way they've been loved equally and I'll show you that they don't have the heart, mind and attitude of Christ.

And I have seen professing Christians, very respected professing Christians. If you do not have the same externals in your life, you were shunned, you were treated as a second-rate Christian, excluded from their fellowship, even made fun of. And remember, this can only take place fully and truly in a healthy local church. We can have a certain amount of this love in a Christian organization out of the church, but in many Christian organizations out of the church, the unity and love is based on externals. Not necessarily, sinfully, and not that these things are even bad. I give you an example. This might sound comical, but it helps.

You might have a group of guys and they're in the bass fishing. And they might organize a bass fishing club and they're Christians and they call it bass fishing for Jesus. And they meet up at the lake and they have a devotion and they go and they fish and they do it for the glory of God. And they come home and they're better Christians. And their wives say, "You know, when you go fishing with those guys, you come home a little more godly. But if you join the club and you don't bass fish, you really can't have fellowship. That's an external." You know, I go to join the bass fishing club and I say, "I don't have a fishing pole.

I don't have a boat and I don't even bass fish anymore." They say, "You might better find another club." Now I know I'm being humorous, but I think it illustrates what I'm trying to show you. The third characteristic, being united in spirit. Now the English Standard Version reads being in full accord, the new American, I like better says united in spirit. And this simply means to be in harmony with one another so as to work together for the common goal. Does anybody know what it's like when a musical instrument is out of tune? I'm going to say something that's going to sound rather odd. You can ask Brother Keith, he'll tell you.

I can hear when a musical instrument is out of tune. I can. I might not can play it, but I can hear it. I can hear a piano when it's out of tune. I can hear a guitar when it's out of tune. Sometimes when they're practicing getting ready for worship, I'll walk through here doing certain things and I have said, "Hey, one of you is out of tune." Usually aggravates them. But you know when musical instruments are in tune, they're all working together. But when one is out of tune, when one is out of tune, it's not working along with the others. And remember that all of these things are connected. They are building.

Being united in the spirit is connected to and comes out of having the same mind and the same love. These things are related together and they cannot be untangled and they shouldn't be. And of course, to be united in spirit means to be free from self and selfishness. John MacArthur nails it here. He says, "By definition, it excludes personal ambition, selfishness, hatred, envy, jealousy, and the countless other evils that are the fruit of self-love." And look, church, this can be so very hard for some professing Christians. They cannot or will not die to self. They want to be united around their cherished doctrinal position.

They want to be united around how they school their children. They want to be united around how they structure their family. They want to be united around how they think the church should be. The list can go on and on and on. And are those externals important? Yes, they certainly can be and they should be. But being united in spirit, in void of externals is what we must be. And this comes out of having the same mind and the same love. And those things come out of the mind and the heart and the attitude of Christ. The fourth characteristic being of one mind.

Basically, this is the same thing that Paul started with in verse 2, being of the same mind, Paul just comes back to where he started. So look at what we have here. Look what Paul gives us. We have four characteristics of unity. We can call them marks of unity. MacArthur calls it a full circle of unity. I love that. Paul calls these Philippian believers to one mind, one love, one spirit, one purpose, and that's really another way to say one mind. Now here, I want to call you to a little exercise. I call you to a little personal work. As I say, I give you homework.

This work that Paul was calling the Philippian Christians to, this could not have taken place in the Corinthian church. Why? Because they were divided. The circle of unity was broken. This could not have taken place in the Galatian church because their unity was around Jewish legalism and rules. I want you to examine to see if there is anything in your life or family that breaks the circle of unity. You examine your life and see if you were unified on something else besides what we see in the verses.

You examine your personal Christian walk and life with your spouse, with one another, and make sure that you have these characteristics of unity. Look for these marks of unity. You know what? They take you a little while to think about it, pray about it, discuss it. Sometimes the light may come on quickly, but sometimes it takes a little while for the light to come on. And then next, finally, verses three to four, we're finally getting there, four directives for unity, four directives. Let's read the verses, verses three to four. "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 to understand what Paul is teaching in these verses, we must get something in our mind. Everything that Paul is directing the Philippians to do here revolves around others. If you're taking notes, write the word others. Everything that Paul is directing this church to do, these individual believers to do, it revolves around others. Here Paul is giving directives for unity, but these directives can be attained only if the believer will turn from self and focus on others. Let me give you a little motto here. Don't tell my mother I said it.

My mother taught school for 47 years, and if I use incorrect English, she still corrects me. But let me give you a little motto here. This motto will help you. It ain't about you. And it ain't about me. Everything is about others. Paul is getting to others. Paul is saying to the Philippians, "It's about others in the life of the church." Now with that in our mind, it ain't about me. It ain't about you. It's about others. Let's look at the directives. First he says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition." We see that at the beginning of verse 3. Now we should remember this language.

Back in chapter 1 verse 17, Paul said that some were preaching Christ out of selfish ambition. And you know what shocked me? It might have shocked you. Paul was just happy that someone was preaching Christ. But what does selfish ambition mean? This word ambition speaks of seeking after something. Like a politician seeks after an office. He has ambition. So he seeks after a position. He seeks after an office. We understand that. And this word selfish speaks of one who seeks personal gain or personal advantage. But at the expense of others or with no regard for others.

In their day, this was often used of a politician who was seeking after a position in an unfair, self-serving way. So we get it. Selfish ambition. In our day, how many seek political office at the expense of others and with no regard for others? The list is long. They seek after that position in a completely self-serving, unfair way. Does that happen today? Yes. And what Paul was saying was this. Selfish ambition has no place in the church. He was calling the Philippian Christians to make sure that they did nothing out of selfish ambition. And what needs to be seen is this.

Unity cannot be gained and kept if people do anything in the church out of selfish ambition. As a matter of fact, seeking after selfish ambition fractures the unity, breaks up the unity and can destroy the unity. Listen to what John MacArthur says. He echoes what I've been saying. Selfish ambition is often clothed in pious rhetoric. There's the lipstick on the pig. Selfish ambition is often clothed in pious rhetoric by those who are convinced that their own superior abilities in promoting the cause of Christ. And look, selfishness and selfish ambition is consuming and destructive. And it always sucks in. Remember the naive.

Then second, he says, "Do nothing out of conceit." We see this at the end of verse three. Nothing out of conceit. Now empty conceit is linked to selfish ambition, but it is different. I originally was going to combine those, but I felt the need to separate them. But this empty conceit speaks of one who is arrogant and prideful. This is the one who always sees himself as right no matter what. This is the one who has an inflated view of himself or herself. And they never take others into account. They will not listen to others and they expect others to just listen to them and agree with them.

The King James and the legacy standard use the term vain glory, but that to me is not the most useful. Theirs is a selfish conceit. It is an empty conceit. It's selfish, it's empty, it's vain conceit. And notice how selfish ambition and empty conceit are related. Selfish ambition chases after selfish goals. Empty or vain conceit chases after selfish glory or recognition. Let me repeat that. Selfish ambition chases after selfish goals. Remember this is in the church. An empty or vain conceit chases after selfish glory or recognition. And notice they usually go hand in hand.

The one who is engrossed with selfish ambition most always is consumed with empty conceit. They are engrossed with their selfish accomplishments or their desire for accomplishments and they are consumed with an overinflated view of self. All you got to do is look at all the false teachers in the New Testament. I mean they all fit this bill. I give you a classic example. Go to the little book of 3 John and look at diatrophes. It's almost as if Paul was describing thinking of diatrophes when he was writing. And then third he says count others more significant than ourselves.

Here the new American says regard one another as more important than self. I like that. And this speaks of two things one's thoughts about someone and one's actions towards that someone. It means to have an opinion. To consider or regard others more important than self. But it does not stop there. This means to see them as more important and to elevate them by the way you treat them. But what is the key to counting others as more important? The opposite of selfish ambition and empty conceit. Selfish ambition and conceit springs out of pride which elevates self over and above others at the expense of others.

But humility considers others as more important and treats them as more important. I love what Albert Barnes says here of humility and pride. He says this virtue the virtue of humility this virtue consists in estimating ourselves according to truth. That would be the scripture. It is the willingness to take the place which we ought to take in the sight of God and man. And he goes on to say that if we estimate ourselves I like that term estimate ourselves according to the word the truth that will produce humility and that will produce a willingness to perform lowly and humble offices for the benefit of others.

Let me speak to you for a moment about things I see in you and I hear about you. We are a friendly church. You are a warm and an inviting people. We are and you are a church that loves people and serves people. I hear those things from time to time from other people but I want to ask you a question and don't answer it quickly. Are we truly humble? Are we as humble as we should be? Do we consider others more important than ourselves? And do we consider them as more important than ourselves and therefore treat them as more important than ourselves? You see the questions and you see how weighty they may be?

It may be that we are friendly and warm and loving and we should be but it may be that we are not quite as humble as we should be. And then forth look to the interest of others. But notice before Paul calls these believers to think about others he calls them to think about themselves. He calls them not to think of themselves selfishly. He calls them not to be absorbed with their own selves, with their own wants and their own needs even their own families. And then he calls them to think of other people. He calls them to think on the interests of others. Warren says that Paul was seeking to break up the narrow spirit of selfishness.

I like that. He was seeking to break up the narrow spirit of selfishness. Paul was calling them to get their eyes off themselves and to seek to meet the needs of other people. Let me share something with you. I don't know who you are. If you're in a spiritual rut, we get in spiritual ruts sometimes. If you're struggling with being down, you know sometimes people can get depressed, spiritually depressed. If you're in a spiritual rut, if you're struggling in your Christian walk, if you're spiritually down and out, I'll give you one good remedy for that. Go serve people. Get your mind off yourself and go serve people.

Now you might need help about self. You might be struggling with things in your own life. But what I'm showing you is this. What Paul is saying, get your mind off yourself and start thinking about others. And if you're in this woe is me, woe is me mindset, if you start serving others, humbly elevating them more important than yourself, you might quit saying woe is me and you might start saying praise the Lord. So look at what we have here in verses three to four. Paul gives four directives that would foster unity. Notice, move them towards unity. Directives that would correct the selfishness that was producing the disunity and division.

They had to have some selfishness in there somewhere because they had a division among them. Simply, he was calling them to do nothing out of selfish ambition, nothing out of selfish conceit. He calls them to regard others more important and more significant. The key is humility and last he calls them to look at the interest of others. Notice he says, put your money where your mouth is. And look at the context, folks. This is all in a church. This is a local church, a healthy church, a model church. Yes, a model church. But obviously they needed this. Obviously, they needed it. And we need it too.

And if they needed these things and they absorb these things and they receive these things, they did need them. But if they would receive these things, listen, they experienced an explosion of selflessness. They would have experienced an explosion of healing. They would have experienced a ministry to others and it would have just dissolved all the problems. And if we do these things, we will experience an explosion of selflessness and ministry to others. I heard someone say this week, made an observation. They made the comment, I'm loosely quoting them, it's obvious that everyone serves here. I'm thankful. But what I'm showing you is this.

Once we truly absorb and do these things, we will experience an explosion, a new level of selflessness and a new level of ministry to others. And I think we probably all need that. Now I'm going to close real quickly. I know it's been a little longer message than I wanted and also we've spent quite a bit of time here. We have been studying teaching towards unity and I do not believe that we have discord to unity or division. So don't go home and say, I think pastor is aiming at something that we don't see. No. But I do believe that we need all that we see here.

And I challenge you to make sure you study these things, pray over these things, make sure you absorb all that he wants you to have, all that he wants us to have.