Philippians 2

Theme for Philippians 2 Have the Mind of Christ

Unity Through Humility (1-4)

Verse 1

Philippians 2:1 “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,”

“Therefore”

Paul is refering back to his point in chapter 1 verse 27 when he tells Philippi to stand fast with one mind! And to be so firm and confident in Christ that they wouldn’t fear their adversaries

Now all 4 of these phrases start with the word if. So it looks as if Paul is asking a question.

But paul is actually being rethorical here, so all of the questions he’s asking are in fact true

It helps me to sub out the word “if” for “since”

So because of your need to stand fast for Christ amidst persecution, these are some of the things that you gain in a relationship with Christ!

Now as we read these we should notice that these blessings only apply to people that are in Christ, people that serve Him, follow His word, and give their lives to Him!

1. Since there is consolation/comfort in Christ

2. Since there is Comfort in the tender love of God

3. Since there is fellowship of the Spirit

4. Since there is affection and mercy

1.There is comfort is Christ

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.

2.There is comfort in Gods love!

3.There is fellowship in the Spirit

This verse is refering to the fellowship that Christians have in the Spirit.

A) All Christians share in the Gift of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

B) Our Fellowship in the Spirit means that we are a part of the Body of Christ!

1 Corinthians 12:12-13 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

4.There is Affection and Mercy in Christ!

Verse 2

Philippians 2:2 “fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

“fulfill my joy”

Making me happy by continuing doing the will of God

chapter 1:25 says And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith,

Serving and encouraging Philippi in the faith was one of Pauls greatest missions.

Pauls work and identity was to serve the kingdom of God!

We need to have that same mindset

We need to be joyful when we see Christians serving God

Paul is saying

Be United by doing the will of God!

It all comes down to having unity!

Doing the same things!

Love the same way! Think the same way! Act the same way!

There’s one way to do all of these things!

And that way was shown by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!

Jesus was a perfect man! Jesus set the standard for how we should live as Christians!

Now paul is about to talk about what the mind of Christ is!

But before he does he prefaces by giving a way to obtain the same mind in verses 3-4!

Verses 3-4

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.

So this is what we need to do to be of one mind, to be of one accord, to have the same love,

Other people need be better than you in your eyes!

But that’s not because any man is so great!

It’s because we need to have the humility to lower ourselves!

The word humble means to be low!

So when we humble and lower ourselves, then we’re going to esteem and value other people greater than ourselves!

But i think these verses have a double meaning.

Not only is paul saying lower yourself, but he says in verse 3 to do nothing in selfish ambition.

Then in verse 4 he says to look out for the interests of others!

He’s telling the philippians not to think about themselves so much!

To think about others!! to serve others!!

Friends we need to have this service mindset that Paul is talking about!

Be lowly

Look out for the interests of others!

Humility Like His (5-11)

Verses 5-6

Philippians 2:5–6 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,”

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ” So this is the mind that philippi was supposed to have then, and it’s the mind we need to have today. The Mind of Jesus Christ!

“Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,” Jesus Christ was, is, and always will be God.

A lot of people believe that Jesus isn’t fully God, friends that is not true! Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and He is apart of the God head!

John 10:30 “I and My Father are one.”

John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.””

Colossians 1:15-17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

Make no mistake that Jesus has the authority and He has the power and majesty

Jesus is God and we need to show Him the fear and reverence that He deserves!

This verse in Philippians 2 is setting the stage this whole section on humility

Jesus was equal with the almighty God!

Verse 7

Philippians 2:7 “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.”

“But Made Himself of NO reputation”

He emptied and made Himself void of the reputation and the glory that came with being in heaven

2. “Taking the form of a bondservant”

A Bondservant!! Remember how Paul started this letter of Philippians??

He signed it and said “Paul a Bondservant of Jesus Christ!

It says Jesus took the form of a bondservant!!

The King of Kings and the creator of the universe became a bondservant!

And look at the mindset of Jesus!

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

3. “And coming in the likeness of men.”

Jesus left the glory and majesty of heaven and became a man with real flesh!

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

This is what it looked like for Jesus to be a bondservant!!

To come and endure the temptations and the trials of life just for us!

Just so He could save us from our sin and give us a hope of heaven!

What Jesus did what the ULTIMATE act of service and of love!

1 John 3:16 says “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

Verse 8

Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

“He Humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death”

Humility is one of the major themes of this book!

And friends, Humility is the key to serving God faithfully!

This is seen throughout the entire bible!

And this verse explains why Humility is the key to serving God!

It says He humbled Himself and became OBEDIENT!

So when we humble and we lower ourselves, we realize that we need to be obedient to God our Father

We have to make humility our identity!!

1 Peter 5:5 (ESV) Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We’ve got to clothe ourselves with Humility!

But how do we do that? How do we cultivate and achieve this Humility that Christ had?

3 Steps to Cultivate Humility

Serve Others

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

How serving brings Humility and not pride

2. Encourage Others

Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

How encouraging brings humility and not pride

3. Self reflect

Lamentations 3:40 “Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;”

How self reflection brings humility

So we’ve talked about how to obtain and cultivate this humility, but now let’s look at what humility does?

If I clothe myself with humility, what is that going to produce?

Humility invites correction

A) Proverbs 10:17 (ESV) “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, But he who rejects reproof leads others astray.”

2.  Humility acknowledges limitations

A) Jesus knew He needed God!

B) John 5:30 “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

3.  Humility fosters peace

A) Romans 12:16 “Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”

4.  Humility leads to growth

A) 1 Corinthians 15:9–10 “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

5.  Humility reflects Christ

A) Philippians 2:5-11

B) When we are humble, we put on the mind of Christ

(PP)

“Even the death of the cross”

This phrase shows the severity of dying a death by crucifixion

Crucifixion was a brutal and humiliating form of execution designed to maximize pain and prolong death, often lasting hours or even days.

Victims were nailed through their wrists and feet, forced to lift themselves repeatedly just to breathe, until exhaustion, suffocation, or heart failure claimed their lives.

Jesus, though innocent, endured this agony willingly and He became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross—thats Philippians 2:8,

Jesus was the embodiment of ultimate humility and sacrifice.

Verse 9-11

Philippians 2:9–11 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

There’s 2 Main themes of these verses

1.Humility is rewarded by God

A) (Therefore) God exalted and raised the lowered man.

In verse 8 it said Jesus Humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death!

Here in verse 9 it says Therefore!

Because of Jesus humility and His faithful obedience to God and His will, God exalted Him and blessed Him!

Friends the same can be true for us today!

If we can clothe ourselves with humility like Christ did and serve God with undying loyalty, then God is going to reward us and bless us for that!

Lets look at some powerful verses that support this!

Matthew 18:4 “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Humility is the key to becoming the best servant of God that we can be!

2. Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

3. Proverbs 22:4 “By humility and the fear of the Lord Are riches and honor and life.”

2. The authority and majesty of Jesus

A) Jesus is above EVERY name!

There’s a lot of names out there.....Jesus name is above them

B) Every knee will bow!

There’s a lot of people that mock God, they will be humbled

If your here and your not humble before God tonight, then you need to do that because if you don’t humble yourself now, God will humble you one day.

Moving onto our 3rd section of Philippians

Christian Character (12-18)

Verse 12

Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;”

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,

This is a huge compliment to the congregation of Philippi!

Paul says Philippi, you’ve always obeyed and served God, and you’ve done it with integrity and character!

He’s basically telling Philippi that so far, they have followed the example of Jesus, they’ve been humble and they have obeyed just like Jesus did!

So How does this apply to us today??

Can we truly say we’re like Philippi? Do we have good character?????

Many times we’re quick to answer and say yes absolutely I have good character and integrity

But friends we have to remember that God does want us to walk into the doors of the church, worship with our brothers and sisters and look like a great christian person, and then walk out of the church doors go back home and live a life of sin.

That is NOT what God wants from us!!!

He wants 100% of our devotion to Him!

100% loyalty day in and day out!

Again its easy to fall into satans trap of thinking we’re doing it perfectly.

But do we do whats right when no ones watching??

Do we do whats right when we get home from church??

Friends, it can be hard sometimes to maintain good character and integrity

But again, it all goes back to the fact that we have to clothe ourselves with humility and recognize that Gods way is better than ours!

Then we submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from us!

That’s how we obtain Christian Character!!

“work out your own salvation

There is multiple things that this verse does!

This refutes the doctrine of predestination!

2. “Work” Salvation is going to take work!

Let me preface by saying that Salvation is a gift from God! (Eph 2:8)

3. Its your own Salvation!

You can’t ride the coat tails of momma and daddy into heaven!

You and only you will give an answer to God on the day of judgement

Matthew 12:36–37 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.””

with fear and trembling;”

This is talking about the attitude that we should have towards the Lord as we serve Him!

As we are working for the Lord and serving Him, we need to have a healthy and Godly fear for who He is!

If you wanna realize how powerful and how big God is study the solar system and study the human body.

It is absolutely incredible to see the perfection and the precision that Gods creation is made with

We need to look at the majesty of God and tremble and fear Him!

Now this does not mean that we are to doubt our own salvation!

Verse 13

Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

It may not seem like it at first but Here paul is giving the philippians a huge encouragement!

He just finished telling them that they need to work out there own salvation!

That may be a very frightening thing to hear at first.

But what does Paul say here!

It is GOD who works in you!

God knows that we aren’t going to be perfect as humans.

But He’s given us a plan to follow!

And through that plan, we can do the work of the Lord!!

Here’s this verse summarized

Without the Lord....and His word.... it would not be possible for us to remain faithful until death!

God works in us through His word and the Gospel

2. This passage does not deny that humans have free will

Some people will take this verse and use it to say that God makes us do what He wants and that we as humans do not have any free will to choose.

But throughout the whole book of philippian’s paul is teaching that they have to make the descision to have “Christian Character”

The previous verse, verse 12 Paul just talked about how philippi OBEYED and had good integrity and character.

Everybody that breaths has a choice, and we need to choose Christ.

Verse 14

Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without complaining and disputing,”

Verse 17

Philippians 2:17 “Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.”

Paul is considering himself as being poured out like a drink offering this comparison is that paul is currently suffering for the Lord.

Paul’s views this as a sacrifice to God (cgpt 1:29-30)

Likewise the philippians are suffering, so this leads to verse 18

Verse 18

Verse 19-20

This may seem like just a compliment but timothy is truly showing what Paul has been teaching the Philippians

Paul is saying that timothy cares for the spiritual state of the Philippians like he does. Timothy is esteeming the Philippians more important them himself so much so that he is willing to travel to visit them