Philippians 2 TRC
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BECAUSE CHRIST WAS OBEDIENT I CAN AND MUST AS WELL
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, 2 fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. 3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
What Paul is asking them to do is hard.
They are a church made up of Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, and many who were very committed to Rome.
Unity would be important in the church even if we didn’t have any external pressures on us.
But this church in Philippi, similar to us, is met with the challenge of living out their new identity in Christ in the midst of a world that does not want them to.
This call for unity is applicable to the church in all times and all places.
It would be easy to stand up here and sound the alarm about the mounting cultural war that is occuring in our own country.
But we need a big picture view of history and the world to see that, no matter what time period or place you live in, living in accordance with God’s law will put you at odds with others.
The beauty of the gospel however, is that in the midst of that adversity people are drawn to Christ as they witness how his disciples love each other.
35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Paul is going to encourage them to be unified now,
“Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit”
But the sad thing to report is that the current state of affairs in our American church is that both rivalry and conceit have entrenched themselves in how we operate and treat each other.
If you’ve ever read the Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, you see the main character, Christian encounter many different characters along the way.
Characters like despair and hypocrisy.
If we could reimagine a chapter of the book, I imagine Christian encountering the twin brothers Rivalry and Conceit.
Rivalry is dressed like a stereotypical worship pastor with the black skinny jeans and a key on a sterling silver chain around his neck.
Conceit is dressed up in a nice suit and carrying multiple theological degrees in a briefcase.
How do these characters pop up in our church?
How can rivalry affect how we act as Christians or as a church?
The idea of rivalry in a church should be almost hilarious.
Rivalry is jostling for position.
Also translated as selfish ambition.
Christians infighting for position is just as absurd as if you were to let 2 dogs into a room that was lined with bacon from floor to cieling, and they broke out into a fight over the first one they see.
Dogs will literally do that.
Why do Christians rival each other when we have already been given as Paul puts it in Ephesians:
“Every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
I can’t speak exclusively to why that would be in Philippi, but I imagine it is closely related to the reason why we rival each other in 2024
Money and Influence.
Simple as that.
We in America have fallen headlong into the trap of patterning the church after both the business world, and the entertainment industry.
Rivalry comes into play when all of your ministry focus is on getting people to walk through the door and then keeping them there.
2 things come from this.
With large crowds come money.
It feels good to play music for, or to preach to, large crowds.
The problem with this of course is that this is not how disciples are made.
People do not become followers of Christ because they heard some cool music and a great TED talk.
They become followers of Christ when they are confronted with the cornerstone.
The gospel of truth, and then they are given the gift of faith to believe this gospel.
Now I don’t bring all this up in some cosmically ironic moment where I am preaching against rivalry while simultaneously pitting us against all of our neighboring churches.
On the contrary, I am here to bear witness to the fact that God is doing something cool in Tucson.
Unity of the churches.
I am so thankful for the churches around us.
We are in partnership in the gospel.
This is why we pray for other churches every week.
This is why we emphasis the King’s Men gathering so strongly,
this is why we joined the CREC, which has one of the broadest tents available in the reformed world, trying to bring the most people together.
This is why we will invite other pastors to preach on occasion, simply for strengthening the church catholic in Tucson.
How can conceit affect what we do as a church?
Remember how I told you that conceit would be dressed up in a nice suit carrying all his degrees around?
Conceit means excessive pride.
I’m not going to call anyone out other than my own theological tradition today.
I heard someone describe the reformed tradition as being the self imposed Jedi Council of the Christian faith.
It’s funny because it’s kind of true.
And I’m not utterly bothered by the label.
One of the things that I appreciate about the reformed tradition, (downstream from the reformation), is it’s high value of true doctrine.
Of submitting ourselves under God’s word and letting Scripture be our guide by the inspiration of the Spirit.
But here’s the thing.
The whole purpose of the reformation was to PRESERVE unity.
These men wanted to reform the Catholic church, not leave it.
Unfortunately under threat of death, that wasn’t an option.
And within one generation the reformed movement had extreme infighting going on.
I really believe that the truths that can be found being protected within the reformed tradition are the very truths of the gospel that will be the way forward for the church in America.
But at the same time, we are in danger of becoming utterly irrelevant when we co-opt the exact same “quick to cancel” attitude that our surrounding culture is exhibiting.
Over the last 10 years I have seen over and over again Christian brothers and sisters completely write off a pastor, or even an idea, because they don’t match 100% with their own views.
This is literally worshipping ourselves.
And we need to repent of that.
So what’s the way out?
The antidote is humility.
What is humility anyway?
Humility in this sense could be defined simply as being more interested in others than you are in yourself.
3 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Hard right?
Here come’s the good news again.
Even humility here is Christ’s and not ours.
Or I should say, Christ’s humility becomes ours.
5 Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth — 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Christlike attitude required for faithfulness is obedience to God.
Living for God, not for self.
Not using rights as an opportunity to glorify self.
We must be emptied of something for obedience to take root.
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
Romans 8 gives us a further explanation of how this works in the life of a believer, a deeper reflection on what this obedience of Christ really means for us.
Romans 8:1–11 (ESV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Who is in Christ Jesus? Those who have been baptized into Him.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Those who are in Christ are playing with a different deck of cards now)
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (A difference is displayed here between those who are playing with the different decks of cards)
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
So showing, that it is not only binding upon us to keep ourselves from evil deeds, but also to be adorned (κομᾷν) with good. For to give thee the crown is His; but it is thine to hold it fast when given. For the righteousness of the Law, that one should not become liable to its curse, Christ has accomplished for thee. Be not a traitor then to so great a gift, but keep guarding this goodly treasure. For in this passage he shows that the Font will not suffice to save us, unless, after coming from it, we display a life worthy of the Gift. And so he again advocates the Law in saying what he does. For when we have once become obedient to Christ, we must use all ways and plans so that its righteousness, which Christ fulfilled, may abide in us, and not come to naught.
Working out your salvation is obedience, to everything that Paul just talked about in the Christ poem.
We are not saved to be “saved spiritual fatties”
Immature babies who can’t eat meat but have to drink milk.
The two ditches
“that’s works salvation”
“Works salvation”
As soon as we are tempted to think either of those things the next verse comes crashing in.
13 For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
Notice the link between the two phrases work out.
It is as if salvation is a gift that can be used!
Like a muscle that needs excercised.
Paul is saying, work out that muscle so that it doesn’t atrophy and die, but don’t go flexing in the mirror and say “look what I’ve done!”
No gym mirror selfies.
No instagram stories of you hitting a new pr.
None of that.
“with fear and trembling” Don’t let your right hand know what you’re left hand is doing.
Every good thing is a gift from God.
Our salvation, faith, grace, mercy, the spirit, the will to do,
The saints works reflected in Revelation 19.
4 Then the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who is seated on the throne, saying: Amen! Hallelujah! 5 A voice came from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all His slaves, who fear Him, both small and great! 6 Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying: Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, has begun to reign! 7 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself. 8 She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.
This idea of our works being recognized is all throughout scripture.
Very notably in 1 Corinthians 3:
9 For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.
Some will be burned up like chaff, and other will be rewarded
Turn to Revelation 4.
A picture of rewards being given and then given back for God’s glory.
The Father wants us to be mature like Christ which is why Paul tells us to have the same attitude of Christ.
“I speak and do what the Father tells me to do”
49 For I have not spoken on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a command as to what I should say and what I should speak.
All for the great goal of Christ
14 Do everything without grumbling and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. 16 Hold firmly to the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.
This is a message of hope.
That we need not be enslaved to ourselves.
That by the power of God’s Spirit, confirmed by the Resurrection of God’s Son from the dead,
We will be unified, and we will be conquerors
