Sermon Tone Analysis

"1 Purpose".

Philippians 2:1-2.

Ajax Alliance Church.

Sunday January 15th, 2023.

Philippians 2:1-2.

[2:1] So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, [2] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

(ESV)

Where sinners are living and working together with sinners, pride and selfishness are always rearing their ugly heads.

The devil works particularly hard to use those products of each member's sinful (flesh) to disrupt the congregation's work through disharmony and strife.

In flourishing congregations, where many members are knowledgeable and gifted, there is always the danger of the more gifted members looking down upon the less gifted and of the less gifted envying the more gifted.

And it is always characteristic of human nature to minimize one's own weaknesses and to exaggerate one's own strengths, while doing just the opposite when observing the weaknesses and strengths of others.

These things can severely stunt the spiritual growth of any congregation.

(Kuschel, H. J. (1986).

Philippians, Colossians, Philemon.

The People's Bible (38-39).

Milwaukee, WI: Northwestern Pub.

House.).

The New Testament letters make it impossible for us as twenty-first-century readers to idealize the early Christian church.

The realism of the letters prevents us from creating in our minds a fantasy portrait of the first-century church as a fellowship of faultless saints who, because of perfection, had such a tremendous impact on their generation.

When idealized portraits of the church of the New Testament era replace the accurate record of what really existed, the result will be dangerous both theologically and historically, because it will make it impossible for us to build healthy discipleship models for Christian fellowships today.

The church then becomes a divine ideal instead of a divine reality.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned in his book about the church, Life Together, of the dangers of this kind of wish-dream idealism in defining and understanding the Christian church.

These idealizations do not help us to really understand either the true situation among the first-century believers or their mandate and enablement, which is the mandate and enablement that are also ours today.

"The Christian Church is not a divine ideal but a divine reality" (Life Together [New York: Harper, 1954], p. 27).

Our task at the beginning of (2023) is not to try to be like an imaginary and totally inspired first-century church or to try to learn special spiritual secrets which they know but have somehow been misplaced through the centuries.

We have a better hope.

The same Lord Jesus Christ who was Lord of the Philippian fellowship is Lord today, and we need His real presence and grace today even as they needed His grace and presence in the middle of their century.

Another aspect of this first-century letter becomes clear when we recognize that the problems that proved to be troublesome for the Philippians in their time have their analogies and parallels in each generation.

(Palmer, E. F. (2001).

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A. In R. E. Van Harn (Ed.),

The lectionary commentary: theological exegesis for Sunday's texts, volume two (pp.

351-352).

Eerdmans.)

In Philippians 2:1-2 Paul gives what is perhaps the most concise and practical teaching about unity in the New Testament.

In these powerful verses, he outlines a formula for purposeful spiritual unity that includes the necessary elements on which a unity of purpose must be built.

Here we see it in three aspects: 1) The Elements of Purposeful Unity (Philippians 2:1) 2) The Essence of Purposeful Unity (Philippians 2:2a), 3) The Expression of Purposeful Unity (Philippians 2:2b).

Through them, he clarifies why believers should be of one mind and spirit, and what is meant by one mind and spirit.

First, to have "1 Purpose" for spiritual unity, we must first understand:

1) The Elements of Purposeful Unity (Philippians 2:1)

Philippians 2:1.

[2:1] So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, (ESV)

The "So/therefore" connects what Paul has just said at the end of chapter 1.

The point is that, "Because we have the divine injunction to be of one mind and spirit (1:27), So/therefore, something must occur.

The Greek particle ei (if) here introduces a first-class conditional clause, which is the translation of a conditional particle referring to a fulfilled condition.

One could translate "since," or "in view of the fact."

The four things mentioned in this verse are not hypothetical in their nature.

They are facts (Wuest, K. S. (1997).

Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Php 2:1).

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.).

So/therefore looks back to the principle that, because they have the divine injunction to be of one mind and spirit (1:27), believers must ... If looks forward to the divinely bestowed realities of encouragement in Christ, ... comfort/consolation from love, ... participation/fellowship in the Spirit, ... [and] affection and sympathy/compassion.

This should motivate believers to desire and actively seek the unity of mind, love, spirit, and purpose mentioned in the following verse (2:2).

Paul is not speaking of theological abstractions but of personal relationships between Christians.

The first reality that motivates purposeful unity is encouragement in Christ.

Paraklēsis (encouragement) has the root meaning of coming alongside someone to give assistance by offering comfort, counsel, or exhortation.

It is precisely the kind of assistance exemplified by the Good Samaritan, who, after doing everything he could for the robbed and beaten stranger, "took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you' " (Luke 10:35; vv 30-34).

Using a closely related word, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as "another Helper [paraklēton]," whom He would ask the Father to send to all who would believe in Him, so "that He may be with [them] forever" (John 14:16).

The most important and powerful encouragement in Christ comes directly from the indwelling Spirit.

Paul's admonition here is that, in light of that encouragement, the Philippians should "conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" (1:27) by endeavoring to be of one mind and spirit with each other.

This profound spiritual principle demands pursuing unity as a grateful response to the believer's union with Christ.

Paul asks, in effect, "Shouldn't the divine influence of Christ in your life compel you to preserve the unity that is so precious to Him?"

This was not a command for unity at the expense of truth.

It assumes that "the same thing" is also "the right thing."

(Kent, H. A., Jr. (1981).

Philippians.

In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.),

The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon (Vol.

11, p. 122).

Zondervan Publishing House.)

The second reality that motivates purposeful unity is the comfort/consolation from love.

Paramuthion (comfort/consolation) has the literal meaning of speaking closely with someone, and with the added idea of giving comfort and solace.

Its basic meaning is close to that of paraklēsis (encouragement); both words involve a close relationship marked by genuine concern, helpfulness, and love.

The comforting and consoling love is that which the Lord grants to unworthy sinners in the grace of salvation.

He continuously bestows that love on believers (Rom.

5:5), who in turn show love for fellow believers.

That demonstrates gratitude for God's love for them (Hawthorne, G. F. (2004).

Vol.

43: Philippians.

Word Biblical Commentary (84).

Dallas: Word, Incorporated.).

The third reality that motivates purposeful unity is the participation/fellowship in the Spirit.

koinōnia (participation/fellowship) speaks of a common interest and a mutual and active participation in the things of God in which the believer and the Holy Spirit are joint-participants.

This is the result of the Spirit's work of regeneration and His control over the saint who is definitely subjected to Him (Wuest, K. S. (1997).

Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English reader (Php 2:1).

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.).

Please turn to Ephesians 4

This fellowship is intimate because every believer is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor.

6:19).

He is the seal and guarantor of believers' eternal inheritance (Eph.

1:13-14; 4:30; 2 Cor.

1:22), the source of spiritual power (Acts 1:8; Rom.

15:19), spiritual gifts (1 Cor.

12:4-11; Rom.

12:6-8), and spiritual fruit (Gal.

5:22-23).

The Spirit "helps [us in] our weakness," and because "we do not know how to pray as we should, ... the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Rom.

8:26).

Believers are to be continually filled with the Spirit (Eph.

5:18).

To inhibit or be indifferent to spiritual unity is to both grieve the Spirit (Eph.

4:30) and quench His work (1 Thess.

5:19).

'Participation in the Spirit' should sound the death knell to all factiousness and party spirit, for it is by this 'one Spirit' that they were all baptized into one body (1 Cor.

12:13) (O'Brien, P. T. (1991).

The Epistle to the Philippians: A commentary on the Greek text.

New International Greek Testament Commentary (174).

Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.).