Having the Mind of Christ

Scripture Introduction:

I want to tell you a little about the shirt that I’m wearing today. Two years ago I had such an amazing opportunity. The Southern Baptist Convention always meets this week in June. And the Sunday and Monday before it is the Pastor’s Conference. Now the SBC is known for a few things that we shouldn’t be proud of. We’re known for fried chicken and we’re known for being angry and fighting each other all the time. Heard a guy the other day who isn’t SBC ask a very serious question, “What are y’all so mad about all the time?” And for quite a few years the Pastor’s Conference was used as a bit of a platform to promote the agenda for the next few days of the convention. And from the very beginning it was made up of megachurch pastors, celebrities, and superstars within Christian ministry. Yet the SBC is made up of mostly small to average size churches.

Back in 2016 about 10 of us guys had a crazy vision. And the name on my shirt is the core of that vision. It says, “Above Every Name”. It comes from our text this morning in . Our core idea was to run a small church pastor as the Pastor’s Conference President and then all work together to put it together. Our vision for the Pastor’s Conference was to have 12 average church pastors—no celebrities—just faithfully preach through a book of the Bible. No agenda except to preach the text and point to Jesus. His name is above every other one. We believed—and still do that this is the answer to disunity. And I think the apostle Paul believed the same thing.

Keep in mind that he is preaching to a mostly united congregation. Things are going pretty well but Paul sees a few issues that are bothersome. And he is writing this also with Corinth fresh on his mind. There was some serious factionalism there. In Corinth they had divided themselves into parties. They were no longer viewing each other through the lens of the gospel but through the lens of party. In other words they didn’t see each other fundamentally as brother/sister in Christ they saw each other through a different grid. The most important question wasn’t are you a follower of Jesus, it became well what kind of follower of Jesus are you.

It is an undoubtedly fictional story of a man that was walking across a bridge one day, only to find a man standing on the edge about to jump. So, this guy runs over and tries to stop the guy. “Stop, Don’t do it”. “Why, shouldn’t I jump”? “Well there’s so much to live for!” “Like what?” “Well, do you believe in God?” “Yes”. “Me too!” “Are you Christian, Buddhist, or something else? “ Christian. “Catholic or Protestant”? Protestant. Me too, Episcopalian or Baptist? Baptist. Me too, Southern Baptist or Northern Baptist? Southern. Me too. Are you a General Southern Baptist or a Reformed Particular Southern Baptist. Reformed Particular Southern Baptist. Me too, Reformed Particular Southern Baptist, Reformation of 1879 or Reformation of 1915? 1915. DIE HERETIC SCUM. And the man helped out the desperate man’s cause—he pushed him off the bridge.

What happens in a time such as this is that truth gets mangled and dragged through the mud. We are given to fighting about party stuff and living for the wrong kingdom. In Corinth they had definitely ran things through the lens of party. They were divided. And now the same thing is threatening to happen at Philippi as Euodia and Syntyche are squabbling. People are drawing up party lines. And you’ve got a group of false teachers on the outside looking in and just waiting to get a foothold in Philippi. It’s still a healthy church but it’s at a crossroads. Will they be about advancing the gospel? Or at they going to turn inward? Will they be about making their name great or the name of Jesus?

Now from the very beginning it was made up of megachurch pastors, celebrities, and superstars within Christian ministry. Yet the SBC is made up of mostly small to average size churches. We were always told this was the way it had to be because smaller church guys lacked the resources and ability to put on such a big conference. Well, about 10 of us guys had a crazy idea in 2016 in St. Louis. What if we ran a small church pastor and all worked together to make the Pastor’s Conference happen. We were shocked when we won in 2016 which meant we actually had to come through with putting on a Pastor’s Conference. We each played a small part. For me, I had some social media duties during the actual event, I was in charge of getting all the free books for a couple thousand people, and also with partnering with five other guys to pick the 12 speakers…we listened to hundred of sermons to come up with twelve.

We were always told this was the way it had to be because smaller church guys lacked the resources and ability to put on such a big conference. Well, about 10 of us guys had a crazy idea in 2016 in St. Louis. What if we ran a small church pastor and all worked together to make the Pastor’s Conference happen. We were shocked when we won in 2016 which meant we actually had to come through with putting on a Pastor’s Conference. We each played a small part. For me, I had some social media duties during the actual event, I was in charge of getting all the free books for a couple thousand people, and also with partnering with five other guys to pick the 12 speakers…we listened to hundred of sermons to come up with twelve.

On my shirt it says, “Above Every Name”. That was the goal of that conference. We didn’t want to be about celebrity. We just wanted average faithful pastors to preach through a text all from the same book of Scripture. We wanted to exalt the name of Jesus above every other name. That comes from our text this morning.

I share all of that because I want to

How many of you have been to a 3D movie? Do you ever notice how much different it looks if you take your glasses off? Everything looks fuzzy. You can still make out some of the stuff. It still looks a little bit the same, but it’s not clear. You miss things. Your experience is very limited. It’s just a drab and blurry show.

But then you put on the 3D glasses and the whole movie comes to life. It’s no longer fuzzy. You see things that you didn’t see before. It’s not blurry anymore but crystal clear. Everything has come to life. And I suppose this illustration would be just as effective if we told everyone who had contacts or glasses to take them out and then put them back on. It makes everything sharper. If your eyes are as bad as mine it makes life livable.

What Paul is saying in our passage this morning is that the gospel is just like that. It’s like what C.S. Lewis said: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” What Lewis is saying, and what Paul is saying in our text is that the gospel not only is something that puts us in a right relationship with God, it’s not only something that gets us to heaven when we die…the gospel is something which gives us a worldview. It shapes the way we look at things. We once saw the movie in 2D but now we see it in 3D.

But sadly even as Christians we’ll go back to a 2D world. That’s what is threatening to happen at Philippi. Apart from grace we view the world through the lens of self. Consider this from Ligon Duncan:

For many years there have been people who said the real obstacle to unity is doctrine. We've got so many doctrines. There's such a long list of doctrines that we can't be unified, because we've got all these doctrinal differences. If we just got rid of doctrine, we’d have unity.

That's not what Paul says. You know what the real obstacle to unity in the church is? It's not legitimate differences of opinion. You can live in unity with someone with a legitimate difference of opinion. There are lots and lots and lots of things in life on which we can have legitimate differences of opinion and still love one another, and still get along with one another, and still work with one another. But do you know what the true obstacle to unity is? Selfishness. Self-centeredness. Putting yourself first. That is the true obstacle to unity in the Christian life — self-centeredness, selfishness, me-first. And the Apostle Paul is out to blow that apart in this passage.

T/S

I read an article the other day commenting on recent findings by the Barna Group. In this study they found that 40% of pastors feel pressure from their congregation to preach on certain issues and at the same time 50% of pastors feel limited in their ability to preach on certain political issues within their congregation. Now I would say that it doesn’t mean that we pastors DON’T preach on these issues but that we realize we live in an increasingly divided culture. And that division has infiltrated our churches. What it also tells us is that party-spirit is often driving the bus in many of our churches. I’ve been going about this following Jesus thing for a couple decades now and even in my own lifetime I’ve seen a shift on this. When I first started going to church it seemed that what really mattered was whether or not something could be shown from the Bible. Truth claims were assessed by the Bible. But now assessing a claim isn’t based on truth it’s based on party. Our identity is now fundamentally political.

This isn’t new. Back in the 1770’s in England John Newton was speaking to a young man about this. He was actually defending his decision to stay within the Church of England and not become a Dissenter (or in our day and age a Baptist).

The Works of John Newton, Volume 5 Letter IV

For my own part, I wish to have a spirit willing to profit by a hint even from a child, and to pay attention to the advice of any person who speaks to me in love, and in a right temper. But humble, loving Christians are more disposed to find fault with themselves than with their minister, and to receive instruction than to offer it. But should a conformist to the world, or a zealot for a party, expect me to accommodate my preaching to his practice, or to his Shibboleth, I could give him an answer without being afraid of consequences.

What Newton noticed (and keep in mind this was during the Revolutionary War when political discussion would have been red-hot in England) was that in supposedly independent churches the pastors were being shackled by members. They were facing a serious temptation to accommodate their preaching to the practice of what Newton called a “zealot for a party”. So even then what was happening was that an incredibly divided nation was causing an incredibly divided Church (big C) and this in turn filtered down into incredibly divided local churches. Things were working backwards. The world was influencing the church instead of the other way around. Much like today.

And that causes us

What I mean is that it seems to me that we no longer

Now for me personally, my affiliation and dedication is to the Lord Jesus Christ. I vow to you to preach the truth as I see it in the Scriptures regardless of party. I refuse to be driven by a party-spirit or to be recruited into the lesser battle. I’m a slave of Jesus Christ and I work for his kingdom. And I believe this is the same conviction that the apostle Paul had as he interacts with a potentially divided congregation at Philippi.

What happens in a time such as this is that truth gets mangled and dragged through the mud. We are given to fighting about party stuff and living for the wrong kingdom. Paul had experience with this in his interaction with the church at Corinth. Some followed Apollos, some Paul, some Cephas, etc. What that means is that when someone came into town and preached something they would run it through the lens of, “does this fit with what brother Apollos taught us” instead of saying, “Is this true in Jesus”. They ran things through the lens of party. They were divided. And now the same thing is threatening to happen at Philippi as Euodia and Syntyche are squabbling. People are drawing up party lines. And you’ve got a group of false teachers on the outside looking in and just waiting to get a foothold in Philippi. It’s still a healthy church but it’s at a crossroads. Will they be about advancing the gospel? Or at they going to turn inward?

So what do you do? How do you heal division? We have an answer here in .

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Sermon Introduction:

So in this text Paul gives the Philippians a nice sandwich. The top bun is verse 1 where he reminds the Philippians of what they have been given in Christ. The bottom bun is the example of Christ—what he has done is the reason why all the blessings of verse 1 are theirs. And right in the middle of that sandwich is Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi. So I want to follow that same pattern this morning.

You’ll notice at the beginning of our text that Paul says, “If...” Now that’s not him questioning whether this has actually happened. It could just as easily be translated, “Since you have experienced encouragement in Christ”. He is listing what has happened to them in Christ. The “If” is a teaching tool. It’s him saying, “If these things have happened to you then be consistent and do X”. And you might note here that Paul mentions Christ and he mentions the Spirit but he doesn’t mention the Father. This has led many to believe that the work of the Father is implied in the “comfort in love”.

Think with me if you will as if you are hearing this as someone who is on team Euodia or someone who is on team Syntyche. Or if you will you could use sports. Team Cardinals or Team Royals. Or you could even think of this as listening as one who is a hardcore Republican or a hardcore Democrat. You world has been wrapped up in these things. Everything about you is team Euodia. It’s the most pressing issue of the day for you. What happens here is absolutely critical to the well-being of the church and the society and everything.

What Paul is doing is causing us to step back and say, “have you been encouraged by Christ. Have you received comfort from the Father. Are you participating in the Spirit. Do you have affection and sympathy given to you from God Himself?” What’s done more for you—Christ or your party? Has Team Eudoia died for you? Have you received the same comfort from this team as you have received from God?”

So, let’s dig in here just a bit and really feast on what these mean for us.

1. Only Jesus can rescue you like this

Only Jesus can rescue you like this

One commentator speaks of the word here for encouragement as thus, “it embodies the call for help and the response to the call”. When I think of the word encouragement I think of somebody saying, “You can do it!” Or good job, keep it up. But that’s not quite big enough for this word. It’s a word which comes alongside of one…to call you to something. So the picture here is of rescuing someone and then calling them to something else. The picture that I have in my mind is .

“The Lord said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?’” The picture that the Lord is giving us is that we are a stick that is being engulfed in flames, we are about to be consumed but He graciously pulls us out of that fire. What is that fire?

The context of is significant. Satan is standing before God and judging believers. And it is to that Christ responds on our behalf, “I have plucked these branches from the fire”. What does he mean by that? First of all they have been rescued so they are no longer in the fire. They will no longer be held in judgment, nor will they any longer be cast off from God. Secondly, as Spurgeon demonstrates for us:

The fire that is mentioned here is the fire of hell, the fire of judgment. The context of is significant. Satan is standing before God and judging believers. And it is to that Christ responds on our behalf, “I have plucked these branches from the fire”. What does he mean by that? First of all they have been rescued so they are no longer in the fire. They will no longer be held in judgment, nor will they any longer be cast off from God. Secondly, as Spurgeon demonstrates for us:

“So it is with the child of God. What is he at the best? Till he is taken up to heaven, he is nothing but a brand plucked out of the fire. It is his daily moan that he is a sinner; but Christ accepts him as he is: and he shuts the devil’s mouth by telling him, ‘Thou sayest this man is [charred] - of course he is: what did I think he was but that? He is a brand plucked out of the fire. I plucked him out of it. He was burning when he was in it: he is [charred] now he is out of it. He was what I knew he would be; he is not what I mean to make him, but he is what I knew he would be. I have chosen him as a brand plucked out of the fire. What hast thou to say to that?’ Do observe that this plea did not require a single word to be added to it from Joshua.”

Only Jesus can rescue us like this. Our party, our preferences, our pride cannot pluck us from the fire of hell. Only Jesus can do that. But he doesn’t stop there. This word for encouragement has a calling aspect to it as well. Think with me and celebrate for a moment what this means:

What we are called from and called to:

What we are called from and called to:

I. Called from labor to rest () II. Called from death to life () III. Called from bondage to liberty () IV. Called out of darkness into light () V. Called from bondage to peace ( VI. Called to the fellowship of His Son ()

What we are made by obeying the call:

I. We are made sons of God () II. We are made the children of God () III. We are made the servants of God () IV. We are made God's saints () V. We are made God's witnesses () VI. We are made workers together with God () VII. We are called to a high calling () VIII. We are called to a holy calling () IX. We are called to a heavenly calling ()

Can anyone else do that?

2. Only the Father loves you like this

The text reads, “If you have any comfort from love”. The word here for “comfort” is very close to the one for “encouragement”. (paraklesis and paramuthion). Yet the word for comfort (paramuthion) is a little more tender. It refers to something which lessens the intensity of something that pains or distresses. Yet, it also holds the meaning of drawing close to ones side. So, here is the picture:

As we have plucked out of the burning fire the loving Father puts healing ointment on our burns. He heals our wounds. He is like the tender mother who puts on the band-aid and kisses the boo-boo, yet at the same time the passionate warrior that plucks from the fire and defends from the enemies. He tenderly draws us to his side and whispers in our ear gentle tender loving words. Words with power. Words that restore. Words that we need to hear.

Can anyone else do that quite like the Father?

3. Only the Spirit unites like this

Participation in the Spirit is Paul’s way of saying that God himself is now dwelling within you. We’ve seen that word “participation” in Philippians before. It’s koinonia. We don’t have any unity like the unity we have within the Spirit. God himself dwells within you. The God who created the world. The God who is eternally blessed, happy, perfect, wonderful, all-knowing, all-powerful, filled with an abundance of love. This God lives within you through His Spirit. The Spirit who convicts us, who gave us new life, who seals us for the next life, who has imparted gifts to us, who fills us with the character of God, and causes us to bear fruit which makes us look like Jesus.

You got that anywhere else?

4. Only God has compassion on you like this

Convicts unbelievers of sin, righteousness and judgment: .

Convicts unbelievers of sin, righteousness and judgment: .Regenerates or causes us to become believers: ; , ; .Indwells the believer: ; ; ; .Seals us: ; .Imparts gifts: .Fills the believer: ; .Causes us to bear fruit: .— The characteristics of Jesus Christ.

Regenerates or causes us to become believers: ; , ; .

Indwells the believer: ; ; ; .

Seals us: ; .

Imparts gifts: .

Fills the believer: ; .

Causes us to bear fruit: .— The characteristics of Jesus Christ.

So, hopefully you can see the benefit of this participation in the Spirit. If it were not for the ministry of the Holy Spirit none of us would be saved today. If it were not for the ministry of the Holy Spirit then none of would bear fruit, nor would we have any assurance of our ultimate salvation. It is because of the Holy Spirit that we can bear fruit, that we have spiritual gifts, that we will endure to the end. It is because of the Holy Spirit that we have any hope or power in advancing the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is essential to the Christian life.

So, hopefully you can see the benefit of this participation in the Spirit. If it were not for the ministry of the Holy Spirit none of us would be saved today. If it were not for the ministry of the Holy Spirit then none of would bear fruit, nor would we have any assurance of our ultimate salvation. It is because of the Holy Spirit that we can bear fruit, that we have spiritual gifts, that we will endure to the end. It is because of the Holy Spirit that we have any hope or power in advancing the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is essential to the Christian life.

4. Only God has compassion on you like this

Paul uses the strongest Greek word, here translated affection, for expression compassionate love and a tender mercy that involves one’s entire being. It describes the compassion which moves a man to the deepest depths of his being. Sympathy is what happens when you see someone in a difficult situation and you rescue them. Again think of the plucking out of the fire thing.

Make My Joy Complete

So Paul says if that has happened…then make my joy complete by being like-minded. Paul has already spoken so much of his joy. He is joyously praying for them because of their partnership. He is rejoicing because the gospel is advancing even while imprisoned, and he’s joyous that he knows because of their prayers and the goodness of God this will turn out for his ultimate deliverance. But what will complete his joy is that the Philippians be of one mind. Now that doesn’t mean that everyone has the same gifts, ideas, personalities. This isn’t uniformity it’s unity. It’s different people working together for the same goals. It’s baseball. If you’re a right fielder play your position and don’t try to play third base. You’ve all got the same goal—get the other guys out....or if you’re on offense, score runs.

In verse 3 Paul shows the darker side of this. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit. What is rivalry? It’s making sure that my team wins at any cost. That’s the goal. What is Paul saying here? He’s saying that the root of all disunity in our lives and within the church is self-centeredness. It’s moving from the mark of doing everything for the glory of God. What’s the true obstacle to unity in the church? I appreciate Ligon Duncan’s answer:

For many years there have been people who said the real obstacle to unity is doctrine. We've got so many doctrines. There's such a long list of doctrines that we can't be unified, because we've got all these doctrinal differences. If we just got rid of doctrine, we’d have unity.

That's not what Paul says. You know what the real obstacle to unity in the church is? It's not legitimate differences of opinion. You can live in unity with someone with a legitimate difference of opinion. There are lots and lots and lots of things in life on which we can have legitimate differences of opinion and still love one another, and still get along with one another, and still work with one another. But do you know what the true obstacle to unity is? Selfishness. Self-centeredness. Putting yourself first. That is the true obstacle to unity in the Christian life — self-centeredness, selfishness, me-first. And the Apostle Paul is out to blow that apart in this passage.

Or conceit. That word is sometimes translated “vain glory”. It’s emptiness. That’s the kingdom you get when you live for yourself.

The contrast to this is to “in humility count others more significant than yourselves”. Or more important than yourself. Do you see the parable of the Good Samaritan here? You’ve got a guy who is in some trouble on the side of the road. Well, I’m a bit too busy. I’ve got more important things to do. I’m kind of a big deal. I’m not ever too big to stoop. There is nobody who is unworthy of my time, etc. You need to go find a quarterback and a cheerleader and that’ll grow your ministry. Our fixation with celebrity reveals that we don’t really get this.

Humility. Rightly assessing myself in light of who God is and who he says that I am. Not a door mat. Not pride.

Look not only at your own interests but to the interests of others. Care about what they care about. Enter into their world. What do my conversations look like. Do I spend more time talking about what I want and the topics that interest me or that which interests you.

Selfish with our interests, time, money, attitudes.

seems to be that of mere self-esteem; a mere desire to honor ourselves, to attract attention, to win praise, to make ourselves uppermost, or foremost, or the main object. The command here solemnly forbids our doing anything with such an aim - no matter whether it be in intellectual attainments, in physical strength, in skill in music, in eloquence or song, in dress, furniture, or religion. Self is not to be foremost; selfishness is not to be the motive. Probably there is no command of the Bible which would have a wider sweep than this, or would touch on more points of human conduct, it fairly applied. Who is there who passes a single day without, in some respect, desiring to display himself? What minister of the gospel preaches, who never has any wish to exhibit his talents, eloquence, or learning? How few make a gesture, but with some wish to display the grace or power with which it is done! Who, in conversation, is always free from a desire to show his wit, or his power in argumentation, or his skill in repartee? Who plays at the piano without the desire of commendation? Who thunders in the senate, or goes to the field of battle; who builds a house, or purchases an article of apparel; who writes a book, or performs a deed of benevolence, altogether uninfluenced by this desire? If all could be taken out of human conduct which is performed merely from “strife,” or from “vain-glory,” how small a portion would be left!"

I love this from James Denney:

“No man can give at once the impressions that he himself is clever and that Jesus Christ is mighty to save.”

Let’s not pick the low hanging fruit. Let’s apply this Eudoia to the Syntyche in your life. Think of that person that you just cannot stand. It can even be someone in the news. What does it look like to love them this way? To look out for their best interests. To consider them as more significant than yourself.

I can hear the objections. I can hear them in my own heart. But you don’t understand...”this is a no good rotten person trying to destroy the kingdom”. This person is messed up. This person will take advantage of me. This person is toxic.

Now listen to Paul. Have this mind among yourselves…which is yours in Christ Jesus.

This is the bottom of the sandwich. All these exhortations are sandwiched by the work of Christ on our behalf. Why are all of these things yours? How have you been plucked from the fire, how do we know the Father loves us with an other-worldly type of love, how do we know that we’ve been united to the Spirit and that God dwells in us, how can we see that God has compassion on us?

But we won’t go there quite yet. I want us to look at the bottom of the sandwich now. The foundation. Why are all of these things yours? How have you been plucked from the fire, how do we know the Father loves us with an other-worldly type of love, how do we know that we’ve been united to the Spirit and that God dwells in us, how can we see that God has compassion on us?

Why are all of these things yours? How have you been plucked from the fire, how do we know the Father loves us with an other-worldly type of love, how do we know that we’ve been united to the Spirit and that God dwells in us, how can we see that God has compassion on us?

Let me illustrate it this way—Let’s say that while you were away on a business trip a man broke in to your house, did unthinkable acts to your wife and children, murdered them, and to cover his tracks he was going to set the whole place on fire. But the fool has accidentally trapped himself in the burning house. What do you do?

He’s gotten himself into this mess. He’s not a helpless victim here. He deserves every lick of that fire to come across his body. So what do you do with such a guy? What do you say? Do you watch him burn?

What about sending your son into the fire to be consumed by the fire so that this treacherous man can be saved? Would you give up your son to save this worm?

But God so loved the world...

.

I know that our illustration breaks down at some points. For one, God is just. What’s missing in our story makes it even more mind-blowing. The Son actually takes upon himself the penalty for the crimes that this man committed. He endures the flames so the criminal doesn’t have to. Justice is satisfied. But friends grace is awkward. It’s unbelievable. If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable then you don’t get it.

But this is what we have in . I like what C.S. Lewis has said:

(i) Lying at your feet is your dog. Imagine, for the moment, that your dog and every dog is in deep distress. Some of us love dogs very much. If it would help all the dogs in the world to become like men, would you be willing to become a dog? Would you put down your human nature, leave your loved ones, your job, hobbies, your art and literature and music, and choose instead of the intimate communion with your beloved, the poor substitute of looking into the beloved's face and wagging your tail, unable to smile or speak? Christ by becoming man limited the thing which to Him was the most precious thing in the world; his unhampered, unhindered communion with the Father.

So much that we could look at here in . And we are actually going to do that tonight. We’ve been going through James but I don’t want us to miss some of the glorious truths here so I’m going to teach further on this tonight. But for now we need to see how this connects to Paul’s overall argument. The crux of what Jesus does here for Paul’s argument is shown by Geoff Thomas:

Here you are a fool who has gotten himself into a fire. You’re being burned up. And it’s not like you are a helpless victim. You’ve jumped into the fire willingly and in great defiance to the one who created you. He urged you not to jump in the fire but you thought he was a fool and so you did it. And here you are being burned up. Enduring consequences of sin but even worse separated from God—this is but a shadow of things to come. Experiencing his fierce wrath against all rebels to his kingdom. So what does he do with such a rebel?

(a) Christ Jesus didn't stand on his rights as [God] the Son, refusing to do anything that could have a tendency of hiding his deity from view, or causing it to be questioned in any way. He didn't say, "Well, I am hanging on to this, whatever else might happen. Let the whole world go to hell I can't be expected not to be seen and known as the one living God, can I? I am not going to put my deity at jeopardy. What would be left for me if I did that?" No! It was not like that at all. God didn't have to pry his Son's fingers open as he clung tenaciously to the arms of the throne of heaven. The Father wasn't ever forcing the Son to leave for Bethlehem. The Father didn't cajole the Son, or threaten the Son, or plead with the Son to step down and make himself nothing.

So here is how this is connected with everything else in the passage. You have all of those benefits of the work of Christ and you have them because of this. Now let’s get some perspective here.

“I would say that this congregation may be divided into two parts; those who are brands over the fire, and those who have been plucked out of the fire. O brands in the fire! Will you not cry to be plucked out of the fire? When he is plucking brands out of the fire beside you, will you not say, Lord, pluck me out of the fire?” McCheyne

Do you really want to be on different teams? Do you really want to divide upon lines. Now there is one division as the Scottish preacher RMM said, “I would say that this congregation may be divided into two parts; those who are brands over the fire, and those who have been plucked out of the fire. O brands in the fire! Will you not cry to be plucked out of the fire? When he is plucking brands out of the fire beside you, will you not say, Lord, pluck me out of the fire?” McCheyne

I like how one commentator put this:

Not rivarly. This is where the party spirit thing comes in. Fake news. Truthiness (Guinness quote).

Not vain glory. That’s the destination. It means empty. That’s what happens contrast this with what happens with Christ. Live for yourself and you end up getting nothing. Follow Christ and you’ll be exalted.

Not my interests

So, Paul says to us, make the connection in your mind between God’s mercy and Christ’s love to you and yours to other Christians. Make sure you see that clearly. It shouldn’t be difficult, the connection is as clear as clear can be. Almighty love cannot be answered by hate; infinite mercy to the unworthy cannot be honored by vanity and selfishness. And, once you see that, “look to the interests of others…” Paul’s verb is perhaps too weakly translated here. The commentators recommend a translation like “fix one’s gaze” or “look attentively” at the interest of others. You don’t have to forget your own interests, but you look to those easily enough. Fix your gaze on the interests of others. Concentrate on the interests of others. You’ll notice that Paul doesn’t tell you what to feel, he tells you what to do!

“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the greatest secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.” [C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 116]

“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the greatest secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.” [C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 116]

The lady at Lowe’s.

The lady at Lowe’s.

BUT

Sacrifice, humility, self-giving.

What does this look like for Eudoia and Syntyche? What does it look like for us?

here is what Paul is doing in this text. He begins by reminding the Philippians of what they have.

The lady at Lowe’s.

Tie back to Christ.