What is a Christian all about?

Philippians 2:1-11

I have an odd question for you. What is a Christian all about? Not what is Christianity all about, but what is a Christian all about? Some years ago, a preacher was in a cab when he asked the driver about his faith. He replied that he was a Christian, and I asked him how he became one. The preacher said I will never forget his reply: “Oh, I was born a Christian.” But those who belong to Christ know that it’s impossible to be born a Christian because we start out with a sin-infected nature, lost and separated from God.

People often use the term “Christian” as simply a category for describing someone’s cultural, religious, or family heritage. Other people believe that a person is a Christian because he or she attends church or was raised in a godly home. For still others, the term “Christian” is no more than a box to check off on an application or survey form. There is Christianity and then there is a Christian. This morning I want to ensure that we know what a true Christian is based off the teaching given to the church in Philippi.

As we are continuing our series on knowing Christ through the study of Philippians and Colossians. Philippians is a mission letter about fellowship of the gospel and Paul just called us to walk worthy of that gospel in the last part of chapter 1 “To live is Christ to die is gain” So what does that living look like what is it all about? well, chapter 2 -provide a description and picture of what that entails and it’s the word unity and how we should put others first, and about serving like Jesus served. I guess the best way to say it. A christians motto is It’s not about you. It’s about others. Jesus said the mark of true Christians is love for one another when to live is Christ that life is lived for others. Philippians 2 opens up with a call to unity.

verse 1-2 Philippians 2:1–2 (NKJV): Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

We will find out in chapters 3 and 4 that the Philippian church was not perfect. They had false teachers in the bunch and they had some genuine believers who just weren’t getting along. It happens in church. Paul will get there but first, some motivation, and the chief motivation to love others is the love of Christ. Jesus loves us. That’s where it starts. We sing a song when where you that said Jesus loves me this I know for the What tells me so? The B.I.B.L.E.

The Philippians biggest battle was not with their external attitude but with those internal attitudes that destroy unity. Paul calls to unity is not a call to uniformity it does not say dress the same talk the same or act the same so lose the cookie cutter. The word “Therefore” ties together his conflict and their conflict. It’s what makes them unified. The word If…If…If.. Is a conditional clause to indicate certainties, not maybes, not might be. Each “if” here expresses the idea of “since” and the word since means to describe and action or situation that began in the past and continues in the present. (Example We have been married since 2000, Since we are already here we might as well make the best of it) The context no longer has doubt but truth meaning their must be consolation in Christ, their truly is comfort in love, fellowship in the spirit. Scripture teaches that our fellowship is not only with God the Holy Spirit as seen here, but also with

God the Father

1 John 1:3 (NKJV)

3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

God the Son (1 Cor. 1:9) NKJV

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

other Christians:(1 John 1:7

1 John 1:7 (NKJV)

7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

When we are in fellowship the word Affection in the Greek means compassionate desires that develop in response to a situation, and that stimulated person to meet recognized needs in that situation Unity in Christ works from the inside out like 1)the same love for one another 2) Working in the spirit 3) and one mind and purpose. Christianity works like a seed that you plant not a mole that you fit into in many ways it’s about how you think mindset so what’s that mindset. Why are teams with so much talent are not successful? they are not on the same page.

verse 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. that little verse is a revolutionary. If we could just live that out seriously James Dobson, who wrote “focus on the family” said this about verse 3 that one verse contains more wisdom than most marriage manuals combined if followed, it could virtually eliminate divorce from the catalog of human experience wow Perhaps we should read this more carefully and do nothing out of selfish ambition. That means don’t strive to get yourself ahead. Don’t live for self or vain conceit. That means don’t be conceited. Don’t think you are better than others. Don’t seek the limelight. Don’t fight for the Mic. The Aposlte Paul is attempting to corect any misunderstanding that may arise from what he said earlier in chapter 1 about preaching out of selfish motives. He was concerned that someone might think he was condoning “Selfish Ambition” which pertains to emptiness and worthlessness. Most people know that conceit is wrong, but Paul takes it a step further rather in a spirit of humility, value others above yourselves there that’s the revolution, genuine humility and it’s about others valuing others' thinking about other people is more important than thinking of yourself.

In Ecclesiastes when Solomon searches through life to find something worthwhile and all of man’s toil, he comes up empty. Ecclesiastes 4 explains why he says, And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. In other words, the whole world runs on envy on selfish ambition against them and me being better than them and it’s pointless to run the rat race as fast as you can. you know why, because You’re still a rat.

Remember this is about unity and the key to unity is humility. CS Lewis said true humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking of yourself less

look at verse 4 not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of the others. There’s that word again “others” think about them, consider their needs their interest and put them first them first. I heard this statement some where

“if you are so worried about getting to heaven you will definitely step on some people along the way

Jesus rescued us from the emptiness of the self-centered life and he gave us others not to make you happy, but that we can make someone else happy so what does humility look like in the flesh? We have one amazing example

in verse 5 in your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus who, being in very nature, God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made and human likeness, the same mindset as Christ the Jesus attitude that’s what Paul calls for and Jesus came to serve.

I should point out that verse six is a clear proclamation that Jesus is God is very nature who he is God, but that’s exactly what makes the whole thing so amazing Jesus didn’t come to show off his deity. The one who made everything made himself nothing he is by his very nature God and he took the very nature of a servant. There is a story in John 13 where it says that Jesus showed the full extent of his love, in other words just how far His love would go. Do you remember when that was? It’s not the cross it was washing feet simple work of a servant, lowly, work, and other's work Jesus is amazing and he told us to do the same to serve

Let’s clear one misunderstanding out of the way in case it still confuses anybody. In verse 7 Paul says that Jesus ‘emptied himself’. People have sometimes thought that this means that Jesus, having been divine up to that point, somehow stopped being divine when he became human, and then went back to being divine again. This is, in fact, completely untrue to what Paul has in mind. The point of verse 6 is that Jesus was indeed already equal with God; somehow Paul is saying that Jesus already existed even before he became a human being (verse 7). But the decision to become human, and to go all the way along the road of obedience, obedience to the divine plan of salvation, yes, all the way to the cross – this decision was not a decision to stop being divine. It was a decision about what it really meant to be divine. Jesus retained his equality with God; the point of the cross, for Paul, is that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself’ (2 Corinthians 5.19).For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

The point of verses 6 and 7 is that Jesus didn’t regard this equality as something to take advantage of, something to exploit. Rather, the eternal son of God, the one who became human in and as Jesus of Nazareth, regarded his equality with God as committing him to the course he took: of becoming human, of becoming Israel’s anointed representative, of dying under the weight of the world’s evil. This is what it meant to be equal with God. As you look at the incarnate son of God dying on the cross the most powerful thought you should think is: this is the true meaning of who God is. He is the God of self-giving love.

Verse 8 and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself, by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. Now that is amazing every knee will bow in the name of Jesus not just because he’s God but because he humbled himself. Humility comes before honor. Jesus has some kind of humility. He deserves all the honor. Jesus poured out his life for others so Paul says this is what a christian is suppose to live.

The answer is that in his incarnation and on the cross Jesus has done what only God can do. Here is the very heart of the Christian vision of God himself: that within the Jewish vision of one God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, we are to see different self-expressions – so different, yet so intimately related, that they can be called ‘father’ and ‘son’.

If and when we do that, we shall find of course that the picture is very challenging. This is a God who is known most clearly when he abandons his rights for the sake of the world. Yes, says Paul; and that’s ‘the mind of Christ’, the pattern of thinking that belongs to you because you belong to the Messiah . If we are truly living in him and by his kind of life, the exhortations of verses 1–4 may suddenly make a lot more sense. That’s what being a christian is all about.

“ Knowing Christ Through the Mind of Christ”