The Unified Mind

Shakespeare’s several plays involving King Henry V begin with young Prince Henry as a vain, dissolute young man who spends his time drinking and carousing with old John Falstaff. But when Henry’s father, the king, dies, Henry changes. Prince Henry realizes his unworthiness and that the crown will be his through no virtue of his own. So he confesses to his dying father: “You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me.” Then, upon the crown being given to him, Henry vows to live a worthy life:

The tide of blood in me

Hath proudly flowed in vanity till now.

Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,

Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,

And flow henceforth in formal majesty.1

And from then on Henry V becomes one of the worthiest and noblest kings of England—his noble heritage flowed from him with majesty.

There is something of this idea in the opening lines of our text, though it may not be readily apparent. The line reads, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ”—which in effect is a call to individually say, “Let the tide of blood in me (the life of Christ) flow henceforth in formal majesty.” This will become clear as we unpack the treasures of this opening line.

Our culture in the United States is standing on and working energetically for their own agenda, pro-life, pro-choice, LGBTQ, environmentalism, working for job promotion, feminism, You Too Movement, racial equality. All of these agendas in some way cause division. These are not all negative possibly but yet cause divisiveness.

In our church culture, people have their own ideas on how each aspect of the church should work and they think their perspective is the right perspective (flesh this out with illustration).

Context: The gospel of Christ presents the believer with a citizenship higher and greater than our earthly citizenship and for us specifically today, our American citizenship. The context directly before this verse Paul gives over multiple verses a personal testimony of his heart and passion for Christ and the gospel. He was torn between having to stay on earth over going to reside in his heavenly home. He had such a strong desire and passion for Christ he want more than anything to be with Christ. He did not want to die just to be with Christ, in other words, he would not advocate suicide. However, his desire and love for Christ and the gospel was what drove Paul’s thinking thereby his actions throughout his day. Henry V understood what was being given him and the responsibility that came with it. It changed his behavior! As Christians, the truth of our heavenly citizenship (Philippians 3:20) should change our behavior!

This morning we are going to be looking at this wonderful passage, Philippians 1:27-2:4, and see how the gospel, the unified mind, and humility all go together. This passage in many ways so wonderfully and specifically hits at the core of the church. God calls the church to unity! He calls each believer to have a unified mind with each other. Paul even states that joy comes from having a unified mind. Having a unified mind carries with it a personal and ecclesiastical nature. The Christian must have a unified mind with Christ which in turn produces a unified mind in the church. Having a unified mind is living worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Main truth: Living worthy of the gospel of Christ requires unity of mind in the church.

Main application: Every Christian must in unity of mind, strive together to live worthy of and proclaim the gospel !

If we are to have a unified mind, if we are to live with one another in unity, what does this look like? How are we to live in unity?

I. The unified mind results from a confident striving together for the faith of the gospel, 27-30.

So to live in a way that is worthy of the gospel is to in a unified manner strive together for the faith of the gospel. Let’s look at how Paul describes this in these four verses.

Understanding the Exhortation, Phil 1:27.

Philippians 1:27 NASB95

27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

The first word of 1:27 is the word μόνος. It is a word that emphasizes that something is in a class by itself. It is the only one. Paul uses this word to emphasize the exhortation he is about to give the believers in the Philippian church. It is something they must pay attention to because it is important!

“conduct yourselves” - Paul is discussing here the Philippian Christians citizenship with which he will clarify in Phil. 3:20). The word translated “conduct” is a form of the word “polis”. This word is the word for city or citizenship. It carries the ([idea of conducting oneself with proper reference to one’s obligations in relationship to others, as part of some community—‘to live, to conduct one’s life, to live in relation to others.] - Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains, 1996, 1, 507). A similar form of this word is used in Acts 23:1 to refer to living life with a clear conscience before God. Does your behavior present the gospel as worthy to those who you interact with, both saved and unsaved?

“manner worthy or worthy manner” - Paul uses the word ἀξίως to express that the conduct the Christian lives must be that which is suitable or comparable to the gospel of Jesus Christ! Paul uses this word also in Colossians 1:10 referencing the Christians relationship to Christ.

“so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you" - Paul expresses to the Philippian believers that no condition exists in which they should find themselves not living worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their behavior should not be dependent on whether or not Paul is around.

“standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” -

Keep in mind that there was division in the church at Philippi. For one thing, two women were not getting along with each other (Phil. 4:2). Apparently the members of the fellowship were taking sides, as is often the case, and the resulting division was hindering the work of the church. The enemy is always happy to see internal divisions in a local ministry. “Divide and conquer!” is his motto, and too often he has his way. It is only as believers stand together that they can overcome the wicked one. (Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 2:71–72.)

Standing - details the idea of being steadfast and firm. He uses the word in Philippians 4:1 to tell the church to stand firm in the Lord as we wait for His return. He also states this right before he discusses the importance of church unity and having a unified mind only this time Paul uses a negative example in Euodias and Syntyche.

Striving - The word translated striving speaks of a struggle. It has reference to a sports team struggling together for a common purpose or a military squadron operating with purpose and in both cases it would be victory. When a sports team or a military squad begins to argue and fight among each other disunity takes place. Multiple purposes and opinions are directing each person rather than a common purpose. The striving Paul is talking about here is struggling together for the advance and worthy conduct of the faith of the gospel.

In one spirit - refers to the human spirit here. Based on the context it does not seem to be the Holy Spirit. In the NT three words exist that can be translated spirit. Paul uses all three words in our passage today. This phrase in one spirit can be best taken in referring to having the same single purpose. The church is to stand firm on one purpose! The next phrase adds to this and gives this fact of living worthy of the gospel with a single unified purpose concrete footing.

With one mind - speaks of having the same orientation of the will and having the same attitude. As one commentator(Louw-Nida) summarized this, “it entails the full psychological being involved with striving for the faith. It is multiple people working in sync spiritually and practically for the sake of the Gospel!

Unity is striving together in heart and mind. It is being likeminded for one purpose—the faith of the gospel!

This striving together is vital for unity because Paul in verses 28-30 explains that the Philippian believers will undergo persecution and suffering. Now you may say today that what suffering would we undergo? We do not have to deal with the struggles Paul dealt with. True, we will not deal with the same suffering but scripture is always true and we will experience suffering.

“for the faith of the Gospel” - our faith is based on the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ death, burial, and resurrection for all mankind! His redemption, adoption, justification, sealing, choosing, saving all for His praise and glory! This is what we struggle together for, it is this we bond together in all our differences of personality and gifts!

Each one of you bring something special to the body of Christ, the Church. When you neglect to use your gifts and talents in the church or use them only for your own benefit you hurt the church. When you take those gifts and abilities and apply them to the church for the sake of the gospel and not your own needs and wants unity takes shape and God is blessed. Suffering is easier to go through. We have built in opportunities for each of us to gather together to encourage and struggle together for the gospel. However we come up with excuses for why we can’t attend a work day or a particular service on Sunday or attend Wednesday evening or even Wednesday morning. Each of these opportunities are opportunities to join together to further the gospel both in it’s saving power and sanctifying power!

We say we love the gospel and we love the church. We say we love the Word of God and the teaching of the Word of God but how often does that actually play out practically in your life? The whole purpose of the church is to glorify God through struggling as heavenly citizens and ambassadors to live worthy of the gospel and proclaim it to yourself, to the church and to the unsaved! You all know that there is an understanding that work or life can happen where it is difficult to make it on Wednesday or maybe even on Sunday. My question this afternoon is how often are we actually using life circumstances or personal agendas to get in the way of fellow-shipping around the Word. In the midst of terrible persecution and suffering the Philippian believers found that joy came from struggling together for the faith of the gospel.

To boil this down…why not? Let the Spirit of God speak to you and ask yourself if you are failing to stand firm in the one purpose and thinking of working with our church family toward the advance and conduct of the gospel? Is your mind unified with the single-minded purpose of living worthy of the gospel through striving/struggling for the faith of the gospel?

What is your gospel energy levels at?

Understanding the Reason for Unity in the Gospel, Philippians 1:28-30

Philippians 1:28–30 NASB95

28 in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. 29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

What does suffering look like for the Christian today? We all will undergo suffering because we are Christians. Satan wants us to fail. He wants us to give up. He wants the church and God’s reputation destroyed. As we strive for the faith of the gospel unity will take place. The focus cannot be unity for unity comes through standing firm and striving toward one purpose and with one heart and one mind—the gospel which gives us faith and is the substance of our faith! It is the gospel of Jesus Christ! It is Jesus Christ! See, suffering is a gift God gives to the church to grow the church and to unify the church.

Suffering is losing a loved one.

Suffering is being diagnosed with life threatening disease or cancer.

Suffering is being rejected by family.

Suffering is being passed over for a promotion because of your faith.

Suffering is having a child walk away from God.

Suffering is having a spouse walk away from God.

We all will undergo suffering because we are Christians. Satan wants us to fail. He wants us to give up. He wants the church and God’s reputation destroyed. As we strive for the faith of the gospel unity will take place. The focus cannot be unity for unity comes through standing firm and striving toward one purpose and with one heart and one mind—the gospel which gives us faith and is the substance of our faith! It is the gospel of Jesus Christ! It is Jesus Christ! See, suffering is a gift God gives to the church to grow the church and to unify the church.

Ultimately, suffering can be take on many different forms. God allows and brings suffering to the church. We are to count it joy because we have a common purpose as a church, a common purpose that is bigger than my suffering, bigger than my opinions, bigger than my wnats and desires, bigger than my needs. The joy in all of this comes from living with a conduct that is worthy of the Gospel and striving with our fellow Christian to live and proclaim the gospel to saved and unsaved alike. We are to be about making disciples! This is what Paul is talking about! On commentator summarized these verses this way:

Application of striving together in unity:

To be successful soldiers of the Cross, [we] must live as citizens of another kingdom, unified against the enemy. Dissension, bickering, and griping, however, will cripple the [our church] in this struggle. - Dr. David Saxon

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Battle Stations! (Philippians 1:27–30)

We experience the joy of “spiritual teamwork” as we strive together for the faith of the Gospel.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Battle Stations! (Philippians 1:27–30)

Sometimes a team has a “glory hound” who has to be in the spotlight and get all the praise. Usually he makes it difficult for the rest of the team. They aren’t working equally together, but are working to make one person look good. It is this attitude that makes for defeat. Unfortunately, we have some “glory hounds” in the church.

As we have seen the exhortation that unity, a unified mind, comes from striving together for the faith of the gospel. This unified striving must be done with a mind of humility.

II. The unified mind necessitates a mind of humility, Philippians 2:1-4.

Unfortunately, people can be robbed of their joy. People can obstruct the furtherance of the gospel through their local ministry. People can live unworthy of the vocation they have been called. They can live unworthy and act unworthy of the faith they possess because of the gospel. People have opinions and understandings for how life both inside and outside the church should look like.

Epaphroditus came and visited Paul while he was in prison. He brought with him a report and gift from the church in Philippi. His report contained good news about the church but he unfortunately had bad news as well. Epaphroditus tells Paul of threats to the unity of the church, both inward and outward. Outwardly, false teachers were creeping in and causing problems. Inwardly, two women, Euodias and Syntyche were fighting with each other so much so that Paul addressed it in his letter. Philippians 4:1-3 we see Paul’s admonition. He begins by again telling the believers to stand firm in one mind and live in harmony with each other. He admonishes most likely a faithful member of the church to help these two women and other coworkers to live in unity. These were people who Paul had fellowship in the gospel with, who he has struggled with for the sake of the gospel.

See disunity arises when someone places themselves higher than others. Satan will take this and seek to destroy the church. Disunity arises when people try to operate within the local church on their own. They gather their little group and so you have multiple groups operating within themselves but not truly striving together. They are not of one mind with a single focus! In fact when church is over they may even bad mouth how the pastor preached or the decisions that are made by the pastor. People may not like the current minitries of the church and have an arrogant and complaining spirit. So what should a church look like? See arrogance and pride are sure ways to destroy a church. Gossip, backbiting, complaining, discontent, bitterness, anger, and unkindess plus others are sure to ruin or hinder the ministry of Christ in a local church. Warren Wiersbe differentiates between unity and uniformity in the church. See unity comes from the heart and uniformity results from outside pressure(institutional or corporate policies). Are you living in the unity we have together in Christ or are you just conforming to it? We are in Christ and must work toward unity not division!

Here in these four verses we see what God in His Word tells us the church is to look like. In them we see the basis for unity (2:1), the nature of unity (2:2), and the practice of unity (2:3-4).

The Basis for Unity, Philippians 2:1

Philippians 2:1 NASB95

1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

Four conditional statements are given to express the basis for unity. These statements are conditions that assume the positive, that they are true. So you could read them as “since you have...”

Encouragement in Christ - the christian is in Christ. The truth that we are in Christ should be bringing immense encouragement to your life. We are in Christ because as we see next...

Consolation in love - Christ’s love for us was why though holy and just he died for my sin and your sin and the sin of the whole world! This ought to comfort you! It is true! The next assumption...

fellowship of the Spirit - tells us the truth that we are not alone. We do not have to live and proclaim the gospel alone. We do not have to go through the suffering alone! The word for fellowship here is “kiononia”. This word carries the fact of a close and mutual relationship. It is this relationship with the Holy Spirit we have as we are in Christ because of Christ’s love. Because we are in Christ, we have this mutual, close relationship with one another. It is in this close relationship, as we are a part of one body that we strive together! We are not loners!! This is true because...

affection and compassion - the Christian has Christ’s great love and concern and compassion. This is the same that we are to reciprocate to our fellowworkers in the gospel!

So why are we to live unified in mind with each other? Because of what Christ did for us and has given us. This leads to again seeing Paul bring back to mind what he stated about his joy in chapter one. He tells the Philippians here that his joy is full when he hears that they are of one single mind intent on accomplishing one synchronized purpose!

The Nature of Unity, Philippians 2:2

Philippians 2:2 NASB95

2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

same love - We are to have a unified, mutual love toward one another because of the love we have through Christ!

Paul three times in the next four phrase refers to the mind. He uses two different Greek words, phroneo(underlying disposition; single-minded) and σύμψυχος(together minded). You could literally read it as “like-mindedly mind the same thing”. The truth of being likeminded and minding the same things is again emphasized. As a church we must be likeminded! We are all one part of the body and when one part does not do their part the church can be hurt and its striving can be hindered. Everyone matters in the church! In the NFL draft the last pick, pick 255, of the draft has the wonderful opportunity to garner the nickname, Mr. Irrelevant. In the church there is no Mr. or Mrs. Irrelevant! Everyone is relevant and ought to be actively unified in mind striving together for the faith of the gospel!

The Practice of Unity, Philippians 2:3-4

Philippians 2:3–4 NASB95

3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Humility manifests from a unified mind! If the church is to be unified and striving together for the gospel, each person must have a humble mind! Paul here gives to us a description of what humility is not and what it is.

First, what it is not:

Selfishness

Empty Conceit

Second, what it is:

Regarding others more important than yourself

Looking out for the interests of others

Church family, if we are to live with a unified mind and in unity toegether, we must put aside our difference of opinions on those things that are not doctrinal. See true unity in the gospel will have a unity of doctrine and behavior! So many of the differences that hinder the forward progress of the church are our petty, selfish ideas. If you attach two horses or cows to a cart and they pull in opposite directions nothing gets accomplished. We have to be unified and humble and pulling in the same direction.

This also implies not being intentionally dragged behind. God grows us all in our sanctification daily, I understand that. However in that sanctifying work we are called to be striving together with a single mind and focus intent on living worthy of the gospel and proclaiming it! This is a unified mind!

See the in 2:5 Paul states that we are to have the mind of Christ who he describes the humility of Christ! Christ our example!

Being unified is not conforming to one person or personality and forgoing the personality and gifts that God gave you. Unity is taking the personality and gifts God gave you and with one single mind standing firm and striving to live worthy and proclaim vigilantly the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Conclusion:

Main truth: Living worthy of the gospel of Christ requires unity of mind in the church.

Main application: Every Christian must in unity of mind, strive together to live worthy of and proclaim the gospel !