Unity in Christ is an essential truth. It’s not a secondary matter. It’s not just a traffic misdemeanor, but a reckless driving ticket. And when we speak of the peace and the purity of the church, we’re speaking both of unity and of the truth. One is not more important than the other, even though inwardly we often make one a priority.
Why is that? You know, go too quickly by this question. Why do we think it’s okay to disregard either unity for the truth or truth for unity? And the Apostle Paul, he lays out the motivation behind the problem. Because much of the time, the truth is just a cover for our selfish ambition and our conceit.
Yeah. We can get really good at pretending it’s otherwise, but the heart of the matter is that We want to be the heart of the matter. We all think in some way that we’re Martin Luther on trial. You know, here I stand, I can do no other. We’re the defenders of the truth, we’re the defenders of the gospel.
When in reality it’s more like, here I stand, look at me. Look at how well I’m standing, but mostly just look at me. And that’s that self-centeredness that so often drives our actions. But because the Lord has set us free from our constant need of approval And acceptance of others, we’re able to look to their interest above our own. That is the nature of humility.
But humility is never an end in itself. You pursue something else and humility is the byproduct. It’s the same for unity. If you pursue having a disposition like Jesus, humility and unity will come from this. That’s the nature of it.
Amen. And here in our text, Paul points out to these young believers that there is a shared faith based on what Jesus has done, and they are now called to live for Christ even as they die to themselves. Well, looking then at the shared faith, Paul has already spoken of their shared bond and suffering. They’re suffering in Christ Jesus. They are facing opposition from outside the church, and now he turns his attention to the problem of division from within.
Grammatically, verses 1 to 4 are actually one long sentence in Greek, and Paul is encouraging them in an action of unity based on the relationship that they have based on what Jesus has done for them. How layered this is. And he begins, so if there’s any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, Any participation in spirit, any affection and sympathy. So when you look at all of these— encouragement, comfort, participation, affection, and sympathy— all flow out of our relationship to Christ Jesus. And this relationship’s the foundation of the relationships that we have with one another.
In Christ is what he says. In Christ flow all of these. And then he says, complete my joy By being of the same mind, the same love, having— being in full accord and of one mind. There are 4 brief clauses that make up this verse. Same mind, disposition, same love.
It actually says together in soul, together in affection. It’s another way of saying those things. They speak of one thing, unity. Unity based on Their shared faith. These wonderful blessings come from Jesus, and they are the reason they should love one another.
They are the reason they should practice a deep and affectionate unity, because they’re on the same team. They’re teammates. They share in Jesus Christ. The same mind here, though, does not mean they have the same thoughts or the same ideas held in common. You don’t have to think the same way to be united.
This kind of unity is really still all about self-interest. I’m willing to be comrades with you as long as you agree with me. No, that’s not what Paul is saying. Because it is possible to have intellectual uniformity without actual spiritual oneness. Because it’s still self-centered at its core.
Be like me and we’ll get along. Think like me and we’ll get along. That’s often the basis of the unity found in political groups, ethnic groups, chat communities, so forth. The heart of it is still self-interest.
Self-interest in our side while demonizing the other is usually how those 2 things go together. This Greek term Paul uses for the same mind, again, it’s not an expression of intellectual agreement. It speaks of being one in intent and one in disposition. So we’re having the intent and the disposition of Jesus. Our unity comes from the Holy Spirit.
And as typical of the biblical tension of truth, we also work hard for this unity. So a gift of God, to be sure, and it is something that in this gift we really have to work at.
Paul speaks of this labor of getting along as being a joy to him. Biblical joy is, again, not a feeling. It’s an action. Acting in unity by seeking to stand together in Christ produces joy. One writer puts it really well.
He said, the key to joy consists in shifting our attention away from ourselves and onto the needs of others. Amen. Isn’t that just opposite of what we’re used to hearing? The key to joy is shifting the attention away from ourselves and onto the needs of others.
Joyless people are a selfish people. They are a self-focused people. That’s why they have no joy.
And Paul is saying despite our differences that we are to show love for one another in In unity. And the question, of course, is how? And his response is essentially by dying to yourself. Do nothing, verse 3, from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Hear what that verse is saying?
The true obstacle to unity of heart and mind is not differences of opinion, but of selfishness and conceit. No joy can be found here. That word conceit in the King James, some of you may be used to hearing that, vain glory. Literally in Greek, empty glory. A baseless glory that only the self-blessed can bestow upon themselves.
We could also speak, and we’ve heard this expression of stolen valor in the same way. You steal the valor of somebody else. As it is your own, it’s empty. There’s nothing there. It’s hollow.
And that’s what Paul is speaking about. And of course, then what are we to do? Well, verse 4. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. The key to this Christian unity is the focus is away from ourselves and onto others.
Which, of course, is what Jesus did. That’s why sharing in His suffering is an honor. If you’re looking for the key, the secret, the great insight for unity, it’s humility.
Paul says the key to being tenacious in the same fight for the gospel, the key to enduring under the same suffering of the gospel, the key to being the same team Is humility.
It is okay to look out for number one as long as you’re not number one.
And that’s the difference, isn’t it? We’re constantly told to look out for number one. Paul is saying you’re not number one. Start there. I had a curiosity this morning.
I searched through the top news headlines from around the world All different news sites. There’s massive protests in France, some 500,000 people, riots, looting, burning buildings. Oregon, of course, is recovering from the elementary school shooting that just occurred there. There are violent anti-government protests in Albania. Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats.
The attack on the ships has now increased in the Strait of Hormuz. The Ukraine is upset because Trump hit the pause button on Russian sanctions. The only news that I didn’t find that had to do with conflict was that the Pope was released from the hospital. And it’s not conflict yet. Just wait.
All of this conflict, all of this violence, I think Almost every day that’s the top news stories of the world. We all want to defend our rights, our agenda, our way of life, our bank accounts, our neighborhoods, or whatever. So we believe we are justified to attack. Immediately having heard that, almost welling up from within instantaneously is the, well, what about?
We think we can find reasons that we are justified to attack. And I admit, there are legitimate reasons, no doubt. The question I want to ask is, why the instant need to justify? That is the question.
May there be justifiable reasons? Certainly. But why is that the first thing we go to? This is why it’s okay for me to do this.
Miroslav Volf put it this way. He said the deep religious wisdom about nonviolence boils down to a principle that no self-respecting warlord would deny, namely that you can be violent whenever you can’t be nonviolent, provided your goals are just. Which they usually are for the simple reason is that they are ours.
I will only appeal to violence if I think nonviolence is not working in order to get what I want. Yeah, that’s just circular reasoning. I’m sure that I’m right and that you are wrong. I’m sure that I’m justified and you are not. I’m sure that my interests are more important than yours simply because they’re my interests.
And Paul says this is the problem.
Now, it’s often the case that those on the outside of a conflict think the solution for those on the inside of the conflict is super easy to solve. We can look at somebody else’s conflict and go, ah, why are they fighting about that? Stop fighting over it, it’s silly. Don’t you see that? And then fill in the blank.
That’s one of the reasons the secular response to violence is generally more education. You need to be educated more to help you see what you’re not seeing. Worldwide, literature— literacy rates are way up. Hundreds of millions of people are connected to the internet. Language barriers are really at an all-time low.
Traveling is easier now than it ever has been. General safety, medical care, all-time highs. Globalization has given the major urban centers of the world similar cultures even. So how come we are more divided than ever?
And of course, it’s easy to blame religious people, to blame secular people, to blame the rich, the powerful, the governments. But all that is way too naive. Look again at verse 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, But in humility count others more significant than yourselves. This is the problem.
The selfishness of the human heart. We want what we want. And the solution comes in verse 4. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, which we’re all good at, but also to the interests of others. How do we do that?
It’s not just a problem in the world. It is everywhere present in the church. Don’t get nostalgic. There has never been some golden age of Christianity where there has been great unity.
The Eastern Orthodox think, if only we could get back to that time before those darn Roman Catholics messed it up. The Roman Catholics think, if only we could get back to that great time before those darn Protestants messed it up. And the Protestants all want to go back to whatever time period They idealize. It could be Luther’s Germany, Calvin’s Geneva, Wesley’s England, Billy Graham’s America. We all think there’s a golden age somewhere that we need to get back to.
There are multiple strands of Eastern Orthodoxy, multiple strands of Roman Catholicism, Protestantism. I looked it up. There’s some 73 different Protestant churches The truth is, is that unity has never been something the church has done very well. That’s why the New Testament spends so much time addressing it. Even back 2,000 years ago, we tripped on unity right out of the starting block.
And so many of the conflicts in the church over the ages have had just as much to do with personal struggles as they’ve had to do with doctrine. Amen. Much of the time, a personal conflict gets wrapped up in a doctrinal dispute just to hide the real motivation behind it. Strong personalities and egos wanting to be the center of attention, but there’s only room at the top for one, and so they push off all contenders wrapped up in really good religious jargon. Our pride hates it when someone else is recognized above us.
It’s far more about comparison than it is about achievement. Our achievement only lasts so long, and the minute somebody else achieves that, it bothers us. Because by comparison is how the proud live. That’s why we can’t abide the praise of anyone else and have to make some comment to take them down. Amen.
That’s why some always seem to be shouting and are having to be from a soapbox. Yes. And Paul is saying to belong to Jesus means that we are team players. It’s the same fight, the same struggle, the same team. The hard work of unity is a privilege and a duty.
To share in Christ means that we are to share in unity in him. To be sure, I can’t do much to get the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow to sit down together. I can’t bring Lutheran groups and Methodist groups together. I can’t even get all the Presbyterians on the same page.
But I can prefer someone else’s need above my own. I can try to die to myself while I love my family, my community, my church. You see, you can choose to be a peacemaker. You can resist a false unity that centers on a celebrity Christianity. A false unity that says, come and join our group because we got the man, the author, the speaker.
We’re all hip and cool, or we have the corner market on the truth.
Now, it doesn’t mean that we throw out issues of doctrine because there’s a false unity on just getting along. It doesn’t mean that we throw out issues of injustice, a false unity on pretending that nothing is wrong. No, it’s saying in unity we can discuss both of those issues, injustice as well as bad doctrine. In Christ, we enter into these arenas as the recipients of what he has done on our behalf. And we enter in as those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us.
That’s the difference. I appreciate Frank Thielmann. He’s a commentator on the book of Philippians, and he shares these 7 principles from Dietrich Bonhoeffer about removing ambition from Christian communities. It comes from— if you’re familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. It’s a very small little book, very convicting little book.
And this is 7 principles he talks about in removing our own selfish ambition. Number 1, Christians should hold their tongues, refuse to speak uncharitably about a Christian brother or sister.
2, Christians should cultivate the humility that comes from understanding that they Like Paul, are the greatest of sinners and can only live in God’s sight by his grace.
3, Christians should listen long and patiently so they’ll understand their fellow Christians’ needs. 4, Christians should refuse to consider their time and calling so valuable they cannot be interrupted to help with unexpected needs, no matter how small or menial.
5, Christians should bear the burden of their brothers and sisters in the Lord, both by preserving their freedom and by forgiving their sinful abuse of that freedom. 6, Christians should declare God’s word to their fellow believers when they need to hear it. And finally, Christians should understand that Christian authority is characterized By service and does not call attention to the person who performs the service.
You can read that and it’s amazing, it’s beautiful.
It’s also something that can seem almost impossible. How do we get to this spot? That’s right. That Bonhoeffer is describing.
We do so by recognizing the empty glory that Paul speaks about, how it is a ravenous hunger that eats our souls away.
It is an empty glory that’s always demanding that other people fill it. It’s always demanding that my pain or my hurt be considered first. It’s always demanding that my triumphs and my successes be praised first. It’s a pursuit of validation that’s easy to be seen in the self-assertive, but it’s also just as much there in those who would self-abase, avoid the limelight, if the reason they are doing so is because there’s a self-consciousness they don’t feel like they measure up. Both are the same coin of pride.
They’re just different sides. That self-assertion to promote myself, that self-abasement because I feel I don’t measure up. Both of those, the focus is me.
And Paul is saying, To have joy, to have unity, to walk in humility is to focus away from yourself.
And next week we’re going to look at how Jesus himself paved the way for us in this incredible section of verses 5 to 11 in Philippians that many of you have memorized. It’s a beautiful description of Jesus. Amen. But the answer is having the same disposition as our Savior. The same mind of Christ.
Again, not the same intellectual content. It’s the disposition. It’s the mindset. It is, I am looking out to the interest of others above my own.
Our peace and our purity come from this. Knowing that Jesus has taken us off the hamster wheel of performance and self-interest. The empty glory is removed, and in its place is the full glory and radiance of the one who lives to give himself to others.
And we were made in his image and his likeness, and that is why Paul is drawing us back to the person and work of Jesus.
Have this mind, have this mind of Jesus among you.
If not, we are eaten up with this vacuous hole in our soul that only God can fill, and we are going to demand that everybody else in some way shovel into it.
And when we do that, it’s a zero-sum game. There’s only so much glory to go around. Amen. Amen. And if you’re not shoveling into mine, you’re taking away.
And so we fight, we claw, we say, we do things to try to get the focus back to us.
Paul is saying that’s going to steal our joy.
That makes us joyless people. Joy is an action. An action that looks out a way to the interest of others. Because everything that we have need of has been fulfilled in Christ. He has poured His infinite self into us.
Our souls are full.
And a soul full that looks like Jesus is a soul that looks out away into the interest of other people.
Therefore, humility is not this idea Of thinking less about yourself. C.S. Lewis. It’s just thinking of yourself less. You’re just not consumed with you.
You can look and see people around you. You can enter into that dialogue with them, holding your tongue. Refusing to speak uncharitably. Refusing to consider your time and your calling so valuable that you don’t have time for others.
Believing that you have the corner on the market on all truth and anybody who doesn’t come up to your standard is a heretic or whatever label you want to throw at them.
That is a ravenous soul that’s needing to be filled in Jesus.
And as you look in terms of your own marriages and to your own families and to your own work relationships, it’s the same. A full soul pours out into the life of others. Amen. Is willing to overlook being slighted, willing to go the extra mile because of what Christ has done for us. The beauty and the wonder of what Jesus has done on our behalf.
This mindset, brothers and sisters, this mindset we are to have because it is the mindset of Christ. And it brings glory and honor to him who is our highest and greatest good. It is the joy and the delight of our soul. And we get the privilege and the hard work of trying to live this out with one another and in the world around us. Pray with me.
Father Almighty, as we come before you, Lord, none of us do this well. We’re terrible at it. And yet, Father, your Spirit dwells in us. How can this be? Lord, we would ask and pray that there would be more of Jesus and less of us.
Father, that you would help us, Father, just to see the enormity of the love that you have poured out to us in Jesus. Father, that you would help us to look away from ourselves to others. Lord God, we thank you that you have not left us alone to our own devices, but that you have come into our sin, into our misery, and you have brought us the life and the light of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Please stand. His glory.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.