Attitude Check, 2, 3, 4

"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, ² make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ³ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

Philippians 2:1-4

 

Good Morning Beloved,

 

Welcome to worship this Lord's Day.

We're so glad that you're here.

And we would like to welcome our brothers and sisters in Christ from India, Germany and Uganda.

We're keeping you all in our prayers.

 

How often do we ourselves fail because our own foolish pride causes us to act in the flesh rather than in humility and depend on the Lord?

  

I'd like to share a story with you of a young man who was a prospect for the ministry. The time had come and he was about to preach his very first sermon. As he went up to preach he new he was well prepared and he had confidence in his abilities. Before he started to preach the veteran pastor who saw him approach the pulpit with an attitude of pride, just shook his head. The young man preached his first sermon and he failed miserably. He left the pulpit in humility after such a failure.

 

The young preacher asked the veteran pastor "What happened, I was so confident and prepared?" The veteran pastor told him, "If you had gone up the way you came down, you would have come down the way you went up." Sometimes we fail miserably because of foolish pride. The Bible calls us to humility.

The Main ingredient for church harmony is humility. 

 

As Christians, we have no excuse for our selfishness, no excuse for our pride, pettiness, envy, personal agendas. We have no excuse for discord in the body, no excuse for bitterness, ingratitude or discord.

 

Let us bow our heads in prayer.

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Thank You for the joy of Your straightforward Word and clear truth You have blessed us with today. Thank You for speaking to us through precious Word. Father, I ask that You would confirm it to all of our hearts, these wonderful truths and to my heart as well, that we may be more like Christ who never was moved by selfishness, self pity, or empty conceit, who regarded others as even more important than Himself. So much so, that He gave up His deity, His glory to humble Himself for our sake. It is unfathomable to me, that we are loved, regarded so highly in His eyes. Help us to be more like Christ, Who was consumed with obedience and seeking only those things which please you.

In Christ's name we pray

Amen

 

Today's Message: Attitude Check, 2, 3, 4

In becoming a Christian you are united with Jesus Christ. If that is not incentive for like-mindedness, then I do not know what is. To think back that we as sinners have been saved by grace and that we are united with Christ is a great incentive for us to be like-minded as a church body. 

There is nothing more compelling, more encouraging to a pastor than those in the body who live the life of Christ. And there is nothing more discouraging than Christians who don’t live the life of Christ, believers who follow a "me" rather than a "we" mindset. The modern church must shift from a "me," "my" and "mine" attitude and focus on a "we," "our" and "us" mentality.

 

Open your Bible with me if you will, to the second chapter in the book of Philippians. I would like to encourage you to follow along with me as I read to get the text set in our minds. Philippians 2:1-4.

"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

Paul in these verses is writing to the beloved Philippians, whom he dearly loves. He wants them to be like-minded. He wants there to be harmony in their church so he gives them the keys to church harmony. The main aspect of church harmony is humility. Paul gives the Christians incentives for being like-minded.

Paul speaks of the great mercies we have from our Lord. Paul uses these great mercies of God to motivate the Philippians. He wants them to be like-minded. To motivate them to be like-minded he does not use manipulation or a guilt trip. Paul uses mercy incentives. We would do well to think of these incentives and apply them to our hearts. That we too would be like-minded as a fellowship. It is an attitude that Paul wants the people of Philippi to have. More than just a mental like-mindedness, but an emotional attitude of putting Jesus Christ first in their life. He uses these incentives so they would be like-minded, all with the same purpose in Jesus Christ.

In all of his positive, affirming characterizations of this Philippian church, there is still lurking in the shadows an issue that is of grave concern to him, it is this issue of discord and disunity in the church. If we look closely, we are able to see that he has framed this letter for this issue. We see that this disunity that is gaining ground.  

 

Looking back at chapter 1, in verse 27, he writes "Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel" And in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, he writes "So then, my brothers, you are dearly loved and longed for—my joy and crown. In this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord."

 

In chapter 1, there is an urging toward one mind and one heart. Chapter 2 the opening verses deal with the issue of unity in the church. And again, in chapter 4 another urging toward one mind and one heart - Unity and harmony in the church. There is an underlying plea for unity. Why is it important for us, as the church, to have one spirit? Why is it important for us to also maintain unity?

 

Verse 1, "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,"

 

Here, Paul gives us five motives, four in verse 1 and one additional one in verse 2. Let's read verse 1 again. "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy," 

 

In the Greek, the word "if" has first class conditional clauses, and based upon the construction of the Greek, we can tell what the word "if" means. There is a conditional clause that means "If, and it is true."

So you could substitute another word "if" altogether for the word since to make it clearer. So now, let's re-read verse 1, substituting the word "if" for since." 

 

"Since then there is encouragement in Christ, since there is consolation of love, since there is fellowship with the Spirit, since there is affection and mercy,"

Now we could also substitute the word "if" with the word "because." Let's read it again.

"Because there is encouragement in Christ, because there is consolation of love, because there is fellowship with the Spirit, because there is affection and mercy,"

Make more sense now? Let's add verse 2, "Because there is encouragement in Christ, because there is consolation of love, because there is fellowship with the Spirit, because there is affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal."

 

He is not speaking of doctrinal abstractions, but of our present spiritual experiences. Let's look at the first one, "because there is encouragement in Christ." The Greek word for encouragement is "paraklsis," it means "to come alongside and help." The Holy Spirit is called Paraclete, the One who comes alongside and helps. It holds the idea of coming alongside someone to encourage them, to counsel them and to help them. 

 

The Greek word for consolation is the word "paramuthion." In one translation in the Lexicon, it is translated as "gentle cheering." The basic idea is tenderness, tender counsel. It literally means to speak to someone by coming close to his side. 

In other words, what Paul is saying here is, "You who are in Christ have experienced His help. He has come alongside you. You who are in Christ have benefited from the union with Christ through the intended encouragement, counsel, exaltation and help that you have received." 

 

The issue here is, because Christ has so consistently and faithfully helped you, this is how you had ought to respond. If the great blessing, encouragement of Christ, if the great blessing of His constant forgiveness, constant strength, constant wisdom, constant benediction and blessing mean anything to you, these should compel you to be of the same mind. Because in John 17, that was Christ's prayer!

 

Since we who have been given so much, from the moment of our salvation, does that not spur us to give back to Him that which is so precious in His heart? It's a matter of obedience to Christ. And if then it is obedience to Christ, is not failing to be obedient nothing less than disobedience? And therefore, is not disobedience a sin? It's not that you sin against the church, not that you sin against the system of theology, or a religious creed or organization. But when you sin, you are literally violating the intimacy of the relationship between yourself and Jesus Christ. Is that not incentive enough to be like minded with one another?

 

Now for the second incentive Paul gives us. "Because there is the consolation of love," because we have been given His loving tenderness, we have known His comforting forgiveness, mercy and grace, and because it has been given in abundance to all of us who are in Christ, should we not seek to give Him that which is precious to His heart? Is not our disobedience is the ultimate act of ingratitude? In effect saying to Christ, "thank You for all you have given to, the love, forgiveness, encouragement, all that which I need, but just don't ask me to give back to You that which is precious to You. I won't do that!"

It's not just the sin of disunity, that's in every sin. Remember in Psalm 51, David's prayer for restoration.

"For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight."

 

David knew he had sinned against Bathsheba, he knew he had sinned against Uriah, he knew he had even sinned against the nation of Israel because he was the king. He knew he had sinned against the Mosaic law, but David said,  "Against You—You alone—I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight."

 

Should that not be the focus of every follower of Christ? 

The third incentive Paul gives us, "Because you have experienced the fellowship with the Holy Spirit."
The Greek word "koinonia," meaning partnership, communing, sharing. In other words, because you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, because your body is the temple of the holy Spirit, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, you have received guarantor of the assurance of your eternal inheritance, because you have received all the benefits, the Holy Spirit makes intercession on your before, with prayers "with groanings which cannot be uttered," the Holy Spirit has provided continuous cleansing to you. Do you not think that the Holy Spirit desires not unity of the people of God?

The fourth incentive Paul gives us is "Because the Holy Spirit has given both the affection and compassion." The Greek for affection is splanchna. It means "gut", or "bowels." To the Jews, the bowels are the seat of emotions, its where things are deeply felt. So what I believe that Paul is saying is "You have more than love from the Holy Spirit, more than that, its a deep longing. You have received longings, the deeply felt affections of the Holy Spirit." I don't believe that Christians today understand this is relational aspect.

 

When I think of the great incentives of being united in Christ, I recall all that I did while I was apart from the Lord, yet Jesus Christ came into my life and I became united with Christ. I am sure there are many others here who can think back on their own life away from the Lord, whether in a dramatic way or just in a way of attitude you did things displeasing to the Lord. For you, now you think, how wonderful it is that I am united with Christ! 

 

What an incentive for like-mindedness. This is what Paul used for the Philippians to become like-minded and this should be our incentive for being like-minded. Think how wonderful it is that we are united with Christ. Let that be an incentive for like-mindedness and church harmony. Paul does not stop there with this incentive. He uses yet another incentive. It is the very love of Christ. The love of Christ!

 

Beloved, there can be no stronger love than the love of Christ. Amen?

So Paul uses this love as an incentive for the Christians in Philippi to be like-minded. In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this than one lay down his life for his friends." What a tremendous love to love someone so much to lay down your life for that person. Here is Jesus Christ and he loved us so much that he laid down his life willingly that we might know eternal life. This love can hardly be grasped it is so wonderful. This should be an incentive for us to be like-minded. How often do we think about this great love that Christ showed for us? Let this be an incentive for our church to serve with one purpose having this like-mindedness.

Paul is saying to us that being united with Jesus Christ is an incentive for like-mindedness. He says the love of Christ is an incentive for like-mindedness and he tells us the fellowship of the Holy Spirit should be an incentive for our like-mindedness.

 

Let's look at verse 2, "make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose."

The Holy Spirit is the great comforter. The great empowered for the Christian life. As a Christian you have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that works in our lives and enables us to be like-minded as Christians and to have our purpose focused on Jesus Christ. It should be that gift of the Holy Spirit that not only empowers us to be like-minded, but also motivates us to church harmony and to want to serve together as like-minded people.

In the Bible a man made the mistake of thinking he could buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. He saw miracles happening through the power of the Holy Spirit and he offered money for the Holy Spirit.

Scripture makes it clear, the Holy Spirit is not for sale. The Holy Spirit is a gift God gives to His children. This gift of the Holy Spirit should be an incentive for us to serve together for the purpose and cause of Jesus Christ.

If all these were not incentive enough in verse 1 Paul says, "If there is any compassion and any tenderness." In other words if all these incentives have not motivated you, just for human pity sake won’t you be like-minded? Human compassion alone should be enough to motivate us to be church harmony and live together in like-mindedness. Even Aristotle said that man was never meant to be like a pack of snarling wolves, but to live together in fellowship and in expression of deep feeling.

How then can we be unmoved by these incentives Paul gives us? 

How many people today are trying to motivate people through a kind of false incentive or guilt trip, but the apostle Paul motivates through what is pure, what is right and what is good. These great incentives, to know the unity of Jesus Christ, the love of Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, human compassion, won’t that motivate us to serve one another, together like-minded with one purpose together?

Paul uses three ideas to express this. He speaks of being like-minded or having the same love or being one in the spirit. He uses three ideas to motivate them to this like-mindedness. It is like piling one idea on the other to emphasize the importance. That we would serve together like minded in one common purpose of Jesus Christ.

You see disharmony threatened the fellowship there in Philippi. Also in our day, so many times disunity and disharmony threaten the church fellowship. Paul is calling Christians to be like-minded. He calls us to one common purpose in Jesus Christ. The high call of a unity of a like-mindedness and a unity in our lives. To have peace in our lives and in our church.

I know God has great plans and great purpose for this church. It could be threatened by disharmony. From people not being like minded. We need to pray and use these incentives to claim like-mindedness for the sake and cause of Jesus Christ.

So if we are going to be harmonious Christians, if we are going to live in harmony with ourselves and as a body of believers is our need. In verse 3, we are told the key is humility, it is humility. Humility is the key that will cause us to be like-minded and have harmony in our fellowship. And he states it in two ways. The first way is negatively.

By avoiding selfish ambition negatively states it. Avoid vain conceit. If you will recall, earlier in the book of Philippians Paul talked about a group of preachers who were preaching out of selfish ambition and vain conceit. Paul was saying if we are to have harmony in our fellowship then these are what we must avoid. How often do we put our own self-interests ahead of the interests of the Lord? We need to avoid all selfish interests. It is one of the great temptations. It may be a greater temptation than money or all the material things that are tempting people. This is the great temptation of self-interest.

Far too often, we are looking to our own needs, rather than the needs of others. How tempting is it to desire the honored place at a banquet or to be sought after and known in public. In all these things we put our own interest before the interest of others. Beloved, the aim of Christianity is never promoting self-interests. As a matter of fact the aim in Christianity is crucifying self. Crucifying self. We are called to lay down our own self-interest down and lift up the interests of Jesus Christ.

 

There is no use seeking after self-interests that are so fleeting. Only the purpose of Jesus Christ and like-mindedness in his purposes is truly eternal.

The great Christians of the past are not ones who were seeking the important offices, but they even did shrink from them. Even the great reformer John Knox said he shrank from the responsibilities before him. He is known far and wide for spreading the flames of reformation, but yet he did not seek after self-interest or fame. He wanted only the interest of Jesus Christ. That is the key to avoid selfish ambition.

Here Paul not only says to avoid selfish ambition, but he states it in a positive way. In verse 3, he says, "but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves." Paul is saying that we need to do more than just laying our self-interest aside, but we need to look to the interest of others. 

Have you ever seen the poster that has the word JOY? It says Jesus first, Others second and then Yourself. That is the key to humility. Putting Jesus Christ first and others before yourself. If we are going to experience true joy in our lives, it is only going to come through putting the interest of others ahead of our own interests.

Humility is the opposite of pride. But what humility is not, is weakness. If we have a low self-esteem and allow people to run all over us that is not humility. Humility is a strength. Humility is strength of character. Humility is to look to another person and see their interests and to count them as more important than our own. Let me assure you, that does not come from weakness but from strength. It requires great strength to look out for others. Humility is the high call to high Christian character. It is a call to strength.

I have seen so many Christians, claiming Christ, who are involved in a false humility. For example, someone could be an excellent world famous concert pianist, one who plays all over the world and they might say something like, "Oh I am not really that good at the piano, in fact, I don’t say that I am any better than anyone else at all." That is not humility, that is speaking something that is false. Humility is dependence on God and to acknowledge that God gave you what you have. That it is only through God that you can do and say what you do. That is what humility really is, dependence on God.

If you read through the Bible, you will notice that every time you see the characteristic of humility you will see that characteristic is praised and every time you see pride that characteristic is rebuked. If we want to be effective as Christians then we must learn to do so with an attitude of humility. We need to think more of our fellow servants in Christ than we think of our own needs. I believe this is the great need of the church today. 

F.B. Meyer, a pastor and baptist evangelist in England, once said that he felt like God’s gifts were on a shelf and the taller he got the more he could reach the gifts of God. Then he said that he became wiser and realized that God’s gifts were on a shelf. But it was not becoming taller that he could reach the gifts it was as he stooped in humility he could reach the gifts of God. Humility is the key to harmony and the key to being used by Christ as a church fellowship. We need a spirit of humility.

In verse 4, Paul expands on this key to humility, he says, "do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." The situation in the Church of Philippi is that there was self-interest seeking. Paul is saying, no. Stop looking to your own interests, but look to the interest of others. Let that be more important. His intention for them was to express real humility in the way of unselfishness.

In Closing...

 

True humility is when is someone who does all the work but does not receive any of the credit. That is what humility brings about. Seeking to do the work for Jesus Christ, but not seeking the credit. That is what is called for in our churches today this attitude of humility.

We all have interests that we need to think of, health, financial matters, and our basic needs in life. It is not wrong to take care of these needs in our life. But what the Bible is calling us to is to go beyond chiefly looking to our own needs. To look out for the interests of others. That is what we need is for those to look to the interest, not just of themselves, but also of others.

And I'm not just speaking about the physical needs of others, that is important. But I am speaking also about the spiritual needs of others. Far too often as Christians, we focus on one OR the other. We need to be concerned not just with peoples physical needs, but with their spiritual needs too. There are so many around us that have spiritual needs because they do not know Jesus Christ. So many today do not know that if they put their faith in Jesus Christ that they will have eternal life. We need to be thinking about ALL of their interests, physical and spiritual, yes, they need food and shelter but they also need to know Jesus Christ.

I heard it said that a wrong attitude, is like a flat tire. You're not going anywhere, until you change it.

Our Christian life is a manifestation to the world, our belief, our faith, our trust in Christ.

What is your life in Christ manifesting? I pray it is an intimate personal relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and in unity and humility, with the body of Christ.

May it be so...

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

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