Unity in the Church (2)

If you have your Bibles tonight, we will be in the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 2 starting in verse 1. Tonight, we will be talking about unity. Specifically, how through Christ’s humility we can be unified. As the church our number one goal has to be being unified. When you think of the best sports teams the thing that made them great was their unity. Famous coach of the UCLA basketball team John Wooden once had a run in with the hall of famer Bill Walton. When Bill went to join the team there was a no facial hair policy that John, the coach, had enforced. Bill wanted to go against the system and keep his facial hair, and quite plainly Wooden said, “We’ll miss you, Bill”. While this might seem like something petty to keep, in reality it’s not. Wooden had a vision for the team and without the players being unified under this vision and leadership the team would not have been as successful as it was. This can go hand in hand with the church. Jesus Christ is our leader. As the church we are supposed to live according to his will and purpose. In fact, Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”. Let’s look at what Paul has to say in this passage about unity in the church.

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. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:1-11

The Philippian church is one of the churches Paul founded on his second missionary journey. This church had a good geographical significance. It was in the town of Philippi which was named after Alexander the Great’s dad Phillip II and was located on the Via Egnatia which was a major East to West highway in the Roman empire. The city was filled with wealth from trade and diversity. This church was a big encouragement to Paul. From the genuine care and financial support, you could see the relationship that was there. However, while the church is in a good relationship with Paul, they weren’t quite with each other. Most of chapter one focuses on the churches trust in the original gospel that Paul shared with them. In chapter two, however, he focuses on the self-centeredness or pride in the Philippian church. The problem with the Philippian church was their lack of unity through pride. However, I believe Paul gives them and us 5 things to unify through the lens of humility.

Unity in Mind

Paul addresses the Philippians right where they needed it most. When he talks about unity of mind, he is not talking about their doctrine. Paul is talking about their ability to work together. Paul realizes that the Philippian church is generous, but out of competition. The town of Philippi was known for being a very competitive town in Rome. This led to great pride which sought its way into the church. The church could not function properly with competitiveness and pride at its helm. The church is one body with many parts, but if the parts cannot work together neither will the body. Paul calls the church out on their pride, but he tells them to first unify our mind in verse 1.

We must first unify our mind because of Christ. Our call to unity is first and foremost Christ. Christ is the cornerstone of our faith. Without him there is no possible way that we can be saved. Remember in Romans 5:1-2 where it says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into his grace which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Paul calls the Philippians to unity by the one who unified are relationship with God. If Christ be the unifier of your life with God, then he should be the unifier of your life with each other. A lot of people mention this as the vertical to horizontal relationship. If you can get your vertical relationship right, then your horizontal ones will fall into place.

Unity in Love

We must second be unified in our love. Our love comes from Christ therefore our love should be like Christ’s. Paul brings up the unity of love because love can be misused and mean many different things. Paul in this sense is not talking about affectionate love or any other superficial type of love. The Greek word used here is “agape”. This same text is used when Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends”, in John 15:13. Paul is calling the church to be unified on this love. This should not be a love that only the leaders or the overseers or pastors of church should have (this is what was being addressed for the time). Everyone in Christ should have this love. John says in 1st John 3 23-24 concerning love, “And this is the commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.” How does this relate to us? I’m not even going as far as to ask you to die. That’s another sermon for another Sunday. Are you willing to love your friends enough to: put their needs before yours, invite them to church, to share the gospel with them. Some of you could say that for your friends, but Jesus goes a step further to include our enemies in this same love.

Unity in the Spirit

The third thing we must unify is our participation in the spirit. This is an interesting statement to say participation in the spirit. The Greek word used here is, koinonia, which means: fellowship, communion, sharing, or participation. The idea of unity in the spirit is that we need to all make sure we find the same spirit, but that we find fellowship and unity in the Spirit. Grant Osborne said concerning this that,“The result of our sharing with one another is a Spirit-fellowship in which the Spirit dwells within us and enables us to overcome our differences and experience a common bond in Christ.” Paul is saying that if there is participation in the Spirit or if you have the spirit, you will be unified.

When we are unified in our mind, through Christ, love, and the Holy Spirit, we can then be unified in our action.

Unity in Action

Paul calls us to unity in our action. When we read the epistles Paul wrote he always talks about the action. You get a wonderful picture in Romans, about being dead to sin and being alive in Christ. You also get the fruit of the spirit in Galatians, or to put on the armor of God in Ephesians. Paul right here is calling the Philippian church to action, but unified action to promote the gospel. He says to first, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, count others more significant than yourselves, and to look to the interests of others. In these three examples of action Paul mentions, we notice a similar concept: humility.

To get unified with our action we need to first humble ourselves. Throughout all of human history there has been this problem of pride. Andrew Murray in his book entitled humility reasons that pride is the root of all evil. It was through pride that Adam and Eve came to eat the fruit to be “like God”. It is through pride that the Philippian church struggled to work together. I’d say it’s through pride that people in the church don’t work together today. People are too puffed up by there own wisdom they think they have instead of humbly seeking it from God, or the company of many advisors as the proverb says. Paul speaks of this if we look back to verse 15 in chapter 1 when Paul says, “some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry…” Leaders in the Philippian church sought to preach against what Paul had said for personal gain. We must remember that no one is good or righteous in their own regard. We seek salvation and righteousness from God. We can look to the life of Christ where Paul says in verse 5-6, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped”. Why does Paul use this term “equality with God”? This is used to drive home the understanding and reverence that we have for God. God is holy. The holiness of God is something we as humans can’t even comprehend. Moses when he wanted to see God’s face was told that he couldn’t even look at God. Instead, God gave him a short glimpse of his back side and the glory and majesty radiating on Moses’ face scared the Israelites. If God’s holy Son, the person we claim as Christians to have a relationship, can humble himself to live among us, then we should be able to humble ourselves in service to the one who is clearly above us. Nothing comes from us it all comes from God. We must first humble ourselves, but second look to others.

To get unified with our action we must second look to others. It wouldn’t be constructive criticism if there was nothing to build off of. Once we understand that we need to humble ourselves and look up then we can look across. Jesus in his ministry talks about this in Mathew 20:26-27 when he said, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave”. Paul in this passage tells us what to do with our humility and it is in direct parallel with Jesus’s teaching. This is to serve others. Can you say in your daily life that you count others more significant than yourself? The pinnacle of this passage is the humility displayed by Christ. `Christ counted others more significant than himself when he left heaven to dwell among us. Paul says in verse 5-8, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” The most high sought to be the most low. Jesus reveals this himself when we continue further in the passage of Mathew, “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. The greatest example of humility is displayed by Christ is his example of kenosis, the theology of Jesus being 100% man and 100% God, and his work of salvation on the cross. When you study the life of Jesus are you reminded of the life we should be living?

Do you know the story about how the term Christian came about? It came about in the beginning stages when the gospel was being spread in the world. The word came to Antioch the capital of the Roman province of Syria. This was a huge town on the border of modern-day Turkey that was ethnically rich and diverse. The term Christian is said to have derived from this town because of the unity among the people of Christ. From the difference of age and race and background there was one thing in common. These people were imitators of Christ or Christians. The one thing that should unify us should not be our wealth, our race, our intelligence, our athletic ability, our looks our political view (which should be similar because of the study of the gospel), our doctrine (this does not negate the importance and need of good doctrine), but Christ. Without Christ none of this possible, but with Christ it is. Christ unifies our mind, our love, and our action, but he also unifies our message.

Unity in Message

People talk about end times. There is whole sect of theology based on the end times called eschatology. While there are a few different views on what will happen every view is certain that in the end every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Paul says in verse 9-11, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Regardless of what time you think it will happen in the end everyone; all races, classes, religions, will, in unity, cry out that Jesus is Lord. How much more should the people of God. In the Lord’s prayer Jesus calls us to pray that God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. What are the things we can gather from this one verse that will be in God’s kingdom? We gather that there will be praise. We gather that there will be humility (they cry out Jesus is Lord). There will be obedience. Everyone will be saved, in God’s kingdom. Don’t mishear me in preaching a form of universalism. The Bible says “not everyone who cries Lord, Lord” will be saved, but in the eternal Kingdom, of those who chose the free gift of salvation, will be saved. When this picture comes into our minds we get the right idea of what we are supposed to do here. On earth as it is in Heaven. Our message should be unified, especially in the church, that Jesus is Lord. Why do I say this? While we might cry out Jesus is Lord, we do not live it. How can we cry Jesus is Lord, but accept homosexuality? How can we cry Jesus is Lord and hate our neighbor? How can we cry Jesus is Lord and commit idolatry? Put sports, video games, school, or even people in front of God. When there is unity in our mind and our action and our message that is what glorifies God that is what brings joy and fellowship, as Paul mentions, and that is what brings the gospel to the ends of the earth.

So, where do we go from here? We’ve heard what Paul has to say about unity, but how do we fix it. The answer is humility. I was preaching on prayer a few weeks ago. The sermon was called the 4 P’s to powerful prayer. While I was preparing this sermon, I thought of another p. That “p” was posture. We need to have the right posture for prayer. The posture of kneeling down is so important because it shows humility and servitude. When we put our heads down in prayer, we express to God that he is so holy we can’t even look at him. Which in the story of Moses I mentioned earlier that’s quite the reality. This type of humility towards God and towards others is what binds us together. It is what Jesus the cornerstone of our faith showed on that cross. If you’re wondering where to go from here, start by putting God first. These lessons you have here every Sunday is not just some good word or intellectual entertainment. We are justified by faith, but as James said faith without works is dead. You prove that God is number one in your life by your actions. Some of you here today may not known about this unity that we have under Jesus or about the humility that was displayed that offered salvation to all. I encourage, if that’s you today, to seek one of the pastors here tonight. They would be more than wiling to share with you about the amazing grace that God had demonstrated through his Son on the cross. Let’s be unified today church. Unified in our mind, in our love, in our action, in one spirit, and in our message. Let’s pray.