Philippians 2:1-4

Philippians 2:1-4

By: Samuel Sorenson

8/24/2024

Introduction

Have you ever been told something so profound that it gave you pause when it was spoken to you? And it took a couple of years to process the wisdom behind what was spoken to you?

A couple of years ago I was doing a ministry internship at Crosspoint Community Church, I was struggling to figure out how to apply all of the knowledge I had learned in Seminary. Most of the ideas and principles I was trying to apply were not working. I was extremely frustrated, angry, and even wondering if I was cut out to do ministry? So, I decided to pray and ask my Heavenly Father what I was doing wrong? Well God being the loving Father that He is, and who abundantly listens to His children, and answers prayers eventually gave me an answer to my prayer in a conversation I was having with my mentor Dr. Yamamoto. When I explained to Dr. Yam what my frustrations, and areas of disappointment with ministry were, he said something that has stuck with me, he said, “Sam God wants you to do ministry with Him, God has to be in your ministry, in order for it to flourish.” I was like well I have been praying, I have been asking and seeking the Lord’s face. I didn’t exactly understand what that meant. What was the Lord trying to get me to understand? Well, it dawned on me that I was relying on my own credentials, my own abilities, and my own pride in doing God’s work. I was not seeking His wisdom, but man’s wisdom, I was so used to going to a professor, or my pastor, or a mentor, that I was missing one of the biggest things in doing ministry. And what was that? I was missing God’s grace and empowerment. I was trying to copy how other men had done ministry, I was not asking the Lord, how should I respond in this situation? How should I speak to this brother or sister in Christ?

After I heard that statement, “You have to do ministry with Him.” I had found the answer I had been praying for. Dr. Yam and I prayed as we always did and still do; it was not much longer after that session with Dr. Yam that the Lord began to poke and prod at my character, shining light where my weaknesses and areas of growth needed to happen. Do you all want to know what the profound purpose was when God showed me character weaknesses? I could not overcome these areas I was struggling with without His help. I began to ask Him Lord I cannot overcome this anger issue, or pride issue, or bitterness that I am hanging onto without your help, Lord please help me!!

You see friends what the Lord was teaching me was How to Walk in the Spirit, and to stop reacting in the flesh. Not to lash out when things did not go my way, but to seek His face and His will in how to respond. Proverbs 3:5-8 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your [a]body And refreshment to your bones.

You see friends I was missing the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, and the work was not fruitful. I was not seeking the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. It ended up costing me greatly.

What I began to understand was that God wants to be a part of every challenge we face, every decision we make, and every area of our lives. He wants to do life with us. That’s what allows us to have intimacy with Him and gives us purpose and satisfaction.

It’s like having a lawn mower that’s function is to cut grass, the machine is built to cut grass it has all of the parts to do the job, but without gasoline the mower will not run. That is what doing ministry without the Lord looks like. Without Him involved we tend to act out in the flesh, say the wrong thing, act out in anger, have our own agenda, and pay consequences that are unnecessary.

I realized I needed Him to guide me through these deep emotions I was feeling, guide me through the deep waters of understanding what was happening in my soul when I was seeking my own agenda above His. Doing ministry with God is where the rubber meets the road. Recognizing that if I want intimacy with God that it means me becoming God’s man, giving up my agenda for His agenda and trusting Him to empower me with His Spirit.

That is where we are headed in the text today, we are looking at a passage that discusses the very character of God. We are looking at a passage that the Apostle Paul is challenging the church in Philippi to take on certain character attributes that God has in order to fulfill God’s will.

Context

Now to give context, Paul is nearing the end of his life, He is at a pinnacle state where he is longing to see the churches that he has dedicated his blood, sweat, and tears too, remain faithful to God. He has poured his life into building God’s kingdom and pouring into people who God has given him a strong sense of love and devotion to. He has served the Lord, he has been persecuted by the Jews and the gentiles, and he has done all of this for the sake of bringing the good news of eternal life, by the preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ, to the nations. Now he is knowing his time is short and he is writing this letter to challenge and spur on the Philippians to fulfill his joy.

Paul is sharing his heart with the church. He is expressing truth claims that have transformed his life, through suffering for the sake of Christ. Acts 9:15-16 states, “15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children[a] of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Paul was used mightily by God and His suffering was a testimony to Christians that earth is not our home. The neat thing that happens is that Paul ended up writing most of the books in the New Testament and Christianity ended up spreading like wildfire during his ministry and afterwards. Paul’s faithfulness to God paid off tremendously, we as Christ followers should seek out the fruit of the spirit as Paul did, and then wait and see what God will do with our faithfulness towards Him.

Purpose Statement: My purpose in speaking to you today is for you to recognize the importance of investing in Godly character.

Today’s text is found in Philippians chapter 2:1-4, “Therefore if there is any [a]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. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Today I want to look at two attributes of God’s character.

1. The attribute of having the same love.

2. The attribute of being of one accord of one mind.

The attribute of having the same love as Christ.

There has been a strand of conviction in studying this passage, it goes beyond what we naturally want to do. We do not naturally want to look out for the interests of others more than our own interests. We do not naturally want to seek out help from God, many times we just want an answer to our questions now. We want a quick fix to our problems, we want our own agenda, we want to go see a shrink and have them listen to our problems, rather than do the deep work of seeking the Lord’s face and waiting on Him. I’m preaching to myself as well as preaching to you in talking about the difficulties of studying this passage.

Why is it important to have the same love as Christ? If we look at the story of David, a man after God’s own heart, he faced many God sized problems, that only God could fix. He defeated giants, he won many battles, and he became king over Israel. His bloodline was in the bloodline of Jesus. Yet he loved God and listened to the Lord’s rebukes. God delivered David because He delighted in him. In 2 Samuel 12 we are told how David sinned greatly before the Lord and even tried to cover up his sin, with the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband Uriah. Despite that when he was confronted by the prophet Nathan, David repented and said I have sinned against the Lord. He took accountability and sought the Lord’s face. He wept for his sin against the Lord. He was a man after God’s own heart and was one of the greatest kings to ever sit on the throne of Israel.

What set David apart was his faithfulness and devotion to the Lord. He loved God and sought His face daily. David wrote many Psalms and was loved by the people. Like Paul, David also greatly suffered before the Lord, with the death of his son Absalom who sought to take the kingdom from him. David endured many heart breaks but never lost faith in the Lord.

The attribute of loving as Christ is pivotal for ministering to God’s people. We cannot be an example to a lost world if we don’t love like Jesus loves. We must seek His face and His character, so that we can be a light to a lost and dying world.

I can distinctly remember a time when I was struggling to understand the two greatest commandments that Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus is asked by the Pharisees “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

I had been praying Lord help me to love you with all my heart with all my soul and with all my strength and help me to love others as myself. Well one day I was preparing my first Easter message to preach in Seeley Lake and was praying this prayer when the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “No Sam, I want you to love Me the way that I love you.” I remember automatically thinking, I definitely don’t have the character to do that. I remember asking the Lord is that even possible?

I can recall the Lord’s implication to have a godly character like His Son Jesus did.

You see friends having the same love as Christ did for the church was Jesus’s final commandment that He gave His disciples during the last supper. In John 13:34-35 Jesus tells His disciples, “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

My question to you today Christian is are you loving God the way that He loves you?

The attribute of being of one accord and of one mind.

Why is it important to have the same mind as Christ? Why is having the same mind as Christ important for having unity in the church? I want you all to think about this, if you had an important mission that you needed people to help out with. Would you want someone who shared your same values, your same vision, and your same character partnering up with you? You see friends without unity, without trust, we don’t have a church. The church is not effective in achieving God’s vision and being the hands and feet of Jesus without being of the same mind.

We see this happen in the early church in the book of Galatians chapter 1:6-12, when Paul is speaking to the church about accepting a different gospel, Paul writes, “6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert[a] the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be [b]accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

You see friends in those days and today there were many false teachers penetrating the church and causing division. Leading people away from God and straight to hell. Now here is the challenge church, when we decide to yes to Jesus who are we saying no to? If man’s words are contrary to those of Jesus and the apostles’ writings than we are not to be man pleasers but God pleasers! Have you ever asked yourself what Satan’s purpose is? Pause

He has been called the adversary, the great deceiver.

In John 8:44 Jesus tells the Pharisees, 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

The devil has also been called a thief. In John 10:10-12 Jesus says this, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a [a]hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”

Paul’s warning here in Galatians is a strong warning that following false teachers leads people straight to hell.

I was doing a word study on the phrase Paul uses in Philippians verse two, being of one accord and this is what I found. "with one accord" means to be in agreement, in unity, and all together. It can also mean to be one in heart and mind, acting single-mindedly, unanimously, in harmony, and without dissent. The phrase appears several times in the book of Acts, which describes what Jesus Christ's followers did after He ascended to heaven. It's often used to describe a group of people acting in a similar way, such as worshiping, praying, and fellowshipping together.

The phrase comes from the Greek root word homothymadon, which is usually translated as "with one mind, with one accord". It can bring to mind many notes in harmony or several beings moving forward gracefully. In each of its occurrences, homothumadon shows a harmony leading to action.

We see this play out in Acts 2:1

“On the Day of Pentecost, they were all with one accord in one place.” The early church had agreed that the Holy Spirit was coming, and the church would wait until the Spirit came, no matter how long it took.

If we look at Jesus’s relationship with the Father, He has perfect unity and harmony with Him. He seeks the Father’s will and His purposes above His own agenda. Jesus is the perfect example of what obedience to God looks like.

Look with me again at the text Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

One commentator stated this, “The true obstacle to unity is not the presence of legitimate differences of opinion but self-centeredness. Shifting attention away from ourselves becomes the challenge.”[1]

Seeking God’s plans and purpose for our lives is important in developing a character that is reflective to God’s character. So many times, we want our agenda to play out, and our plans to work out. Church, have we forgotten who we have said yes to? Have we forgotten who we serve? When we choose to put our faith in Jesus and say yes to Him. We are choosing to follow Him no matter the cost to ourselves. We are to give up our agenda and our plans if they are not in alignment with Gods plans.

We are to be the light of the world, and I am preaching to myself here too, because I have been selfish in this life and every morning when I wake up, I have that battle between the flesh and the spirit. Do I want to seek Him and His will, or do I want to do what I want to do? If we choose to walk in the spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Galatians 5:16.

Conclusion:

Here are a couple benefits to being about others more than ourselves.

Benefit Number 1:

The benefit of having healthy relationships.

Let me ask you all this what does a satisfying conversation look like to you? Pause

A healthy conversation is where both parties are looking to give of themselves to the other person. Each party is interested in what the other person is saying and is actively engaged in what is being said. They are asking about the topic being discussed. They are interested in understanding the other person’s perspective.

Imagine if you will being stranded on a deserted island with no one to talk to for a year. You are just stranded there with your own thoughts for company? How would you feel if you bumped into someone? How would you treat them? How would you interact with them. Well, being relational beings that God made us to be we would probably treat them with a deep love and appreciation for just being there with us on that island. Finally, someone to talk to, finally someone to serve, finally someone to love.

Benefit number 2:

The benefit of being change agents in a lost and dying world.

Friends when we show a genuine interest in others it is infectious to those around us. When we practice kindness and help those who are learning a new job, a new trade, or who are new believers, it makes all the difference in the world.

When we look for ways to be kind to people and look to solve problems that they come to us with, then there is a deep love and satisfaction that is attained in those times. Also, our character and our reputation is built and friends our character is our calling card.

I used to think that if I attained degrees and knowledge then that is what people valued. I used to think that being the smartest person at the table was the most important thing to be. But friends the Holy Spirit has been revealing to me that the most important thing to be is the kindest person at the table, the most compassionate person at the table.

One of the most important things I can do in my relationship with Katie is letting her know that I love her. I have found that without love for one another it is very difficult to achieve a happy and healthy relationship.

Gospel Presentation

My purpose in speaking to you today is for you to recognize the importance of investing in Godly character.

Friends if we can understand that developing a Godly character is impossible to do without Him than we can began to seek the Lord with all of our hearts, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.

And for those in here who have not heard the story of the suffering servant here is a brief recap of how the Bible describes our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53 speaks of the suffering servant this way.

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men, A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs

And carried our [h]sorrows; Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken, [j]Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions, He was [l]bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes[m] we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9 And [p]they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. 11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Today if you do not know where you are going to go if you were to die today, please see me or an elder in the church and we will lead you into a relationship with our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s close in a word of prayer.

[1]Silva, M. (2005). Philippians(2nd ed., p. 87). Baker Academic.