Fellowship - Jesus-Shaped Community (Phil 2)

Sermon

"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, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:1-11

Introduction (10 Minutes)

Imagine meeting someone who says, “I’m going to be the greatest artist who’s ever lived.”

They say, “I’ve gone to Hobby Lobby and bought everything an artist could need - paints, brushes, paper, you name it. But that’s not all, I’ve watched all 403 episodes of Bob Ross’s ‘The Joy of Painting.’ I’ve gone to school and gotten a PhD in Painting Technique of the Late Baroque Era. I’ve visited the world’s leading art museums and studied the masters of the discipline - from da Vinci to Rembrandt and Picasso.”

By this time, you’d probably think, “Wow! This guy’s got the tools and knowledge to create some real masterpieces.” So you ask him, “Well, you’ve piqued my interest. What are you working on now?”

And he says, “I’m thinking about beginning a study on marble sculpture.”

And you realize that he’s misunderstood you. So you ask, “No, I mean ‘What kind of painting are you working on right now?’”

And he says, “Well, I’m not working on anything right this second.”

And you say, “Do you have any previous paintings I could look at?”

And he says, “Actually, I’ve never painted anything. I haven’t put pencil to paper just yet… but I’m learning more and more every day. And one of these days, I’ll finally put all of this to use and become the greatest artist who’s ever lived.”

If you were to have an encounter like that, you’d realize an important truth: That you can have all the tools and knowledge in the world… but if you never get your hands dirty in the studio, you’ll never grow in genuine experience or skill.

But this isn’t just true of artistic endeavors. It’s also true of the spiritual life. And Paul tells us what that studio is here in Philippians 2...

Explanation (10 Minutes)

Notice how Paul begins these eleven verses… “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.”

Everything Paul is about to say flows out of these IF statements and what he’s said just prior. And what he seems to be getting at with all of them is this: “IF you have genuine fellowship...”

After all, that’s one of the primary places where we receive “encouragement in Christ” and “consolation of love” and “fellowship of the Spirit” and “affection and compassion.”

When we live in fellowship with other believers - knowing one another, praying for one another, and serving one another - we experience these things in ever greater measure.

So, Paul says, “If you’re really experiencing deep fellowship… Make my joy complete by...”

Now, what would make Paul’s joy complete? Allowing this fellowship to have its full effect by transforming Christians into the kind of people he’s about to discuss, practicing the kinds of things he’s laying out here.

So, according to Paul… what does this kind of fellowship we’re talking about produce?

Two things.

First, it makes us think like Jesus.

Fellowship makes us think like Jesus.

When Jesus first began his ministry, he called twelve men to be his students, to learn his way of life and to put it into practice. He showed them how to think, how to speak, and how to act. He taught them how to understand the Old Testament, how to pray, and how to worship. But it was more than just sermons or Sabbath school lessons.

In Mark's gospel, he makes an interesting statement when telling about Jesus' calling of the disciples. He says that Jesus "appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons" (Mark 3:14 NASB).

He appointed them so that "they would be with him." Now, that's an interesting phrase, isn't it? You might expect it to say that he appointed them to "learn from him" or to "take classes from him." But he appointed them to "be with him." You see, Jesus understood that fellowship is the foundation for discipleship. True spiritual growth takes place when we're united to Christ in his church. And the more time we spend around Jesus and the people who are filled with his spirit, the more we will think like him.

This is why, here in Philippians 2, Paul describes a congregation that's growing in fellowship as one that is "being of the same mind" and "united in spirit" and "setting their minds together on one thing." When our fellowship is centered on Christ, our thoughts become more like his. It's the whole 'iron sharpens iron' principle.

And there's scientific research that supports this idea. Studies have shown that the brains of close friends fire in similar ways. And married couples have been shown to sound and look more alike the longer they're together. Fellowship truly does gives us the same mind. And when that mind is centered on Christ, we are drawn toward him together in our thinking.

This is what happened with Jesus' disciples. Remember what I said a moment ago? Jesus appointed his disciples to "be with him." They spent three years with Jesus, listening to him, asking him questions, watching him, and just being with him. After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the father, those same disciples went out into their cities and communities proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the victorious king of all creation. Somewhere along the way, Peter and John, two of Jesus' disciples, were arrested and brought before the religious leaders of the city. After making their defense, Luke tells us this: "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus."

Even Jesus' enemies and the enemies of the church could recognize that Peter and John had been with Jesus. Why? Because now they thought and lived like him. They had the same kind of wisdom that Jesus had had because they were growing in the mind of Christ. They had the same confidence and boldness that Jesus had had because they were growing in the hope of Christ.

You see, fellowship makes us think like the people we are fellowshiping with. And when we're fellowshiping with others who are pursuing Jesus, we will grow more and more like him in our thinking.

When I first came to faith in Jesus, I thought I knew everything. If anyone ever made a statement that diverged from my thinking, I immediately judged them as an inferior believer. They might be saved, but it was only by the skin of their teeth. And I was so proud in my faith that I genuinely believed if everyone would line up behind me, all would be well in the world.

But over the years, God has refined my thinking on dozens of things - from how to preach (Moore) to how to pray (teacher of a worship class). He's used others to point out flaws and errors that needed correcting. He's changed my thinking countless times through the power of fellowship.

But that's not the only thing that fellowship does. It's not just about changing our thoughts.

Fellowship makes us love like Jesus.

Throughout this passage, Paul brings us back to the core of who God is and who he wants us to be: people who love. This is why he begins by describing fellowship as a "consolation of love" and something that creates "affection and compassion" (verse 1).

It's the reason that, when he describes a congregation growing in fellowship in verses 2 through 5, he says that they maintain "the same love" and are "united in spirit."

It's the reason he goes on in verses 6 through 11 to describe the gospel, the message that God the Son stepped into history, gave up many of his divine prerogatives, and obediently followed the Father's will even when it took him to a brutal death on the cross. And why did Jesus do all of this? Why did he "take the form of a slave" and become a "man"? Because, as John writes in his gospel, "God so loved the world."

"God is love" as John says. And because God is love, he desires us to be as well. That's why Jesus told his disciples that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others.

God's will for us all comes down to this four-letter word: love. And though it might take a variety of forms and motivate us to act in an infinite number of ways, it all ultimately comes down to being made like God in love.

And here, in Philippians 2, Paul seems to be saying that when we cultivate genuine Christian fellowship - when we go through the three-step process we talked about last week of getting to know one another, praying for one another, and serving one another - then we will grow in the love of God.

In other words, fellowship is one of the most powerful means of sanctification God has given us. If you want to love like Jesus, fellowship with his people.

You might think of the church as a studio of love. When we truly fellowship with one another, we will be given lots of opportunities to experiment with love. We will learn how to forgive one another and how to ask forgiveness from one another. We will learn how to love by putting others' needs ahead of our own. We will learn how to give and accept grace. And ultimately, as we learn to love one another like Christ, that love will inevitably manifest in service.

This is why Paul goes on to describe the congregation that grows in love as one whose members are humbly looking at others before they look to themselves. They are people who aren't just focused on taking care of number one, they see to the needs of everyone else. Why? Because that's what Jesus did. And Jesus becomes the example we follow. He's the ideal we look to in order to understand what it means to be human. So, the more fellowship we have, the more opportunities we have to grow in holy love or sanctification.

I’ve found this to be true in my own life.

I could tell you of the times when others have wronged me - when they've spoken ill behind my back or publicly lied about me. I was hurt in those moments. But I was also given a great gift - the opportunity to practice Jesus' command to forgive others.

I could tell you of opportunities I've had to show love by teaching small groups... or visiting someone who had just lost a loved one... or calling someone struggling with loneliness on the phone... or having someone over for dinner... or sitting with someone in the hospital... or dozens of other times when God has given me the chance to practice loving like Jesus.

But none of them would have happened if I had just come to church, sat in a pew, and gone home week after week. I've only grown in my love for others because of the fellowship I've enjoyed with the church.

And he wants to continue to do that for me. He wants to make me even more loving.

You can attend thousands of sermons… you can sit in worship service after worship service… you can listen exclusively to good Christian or Gospel music… you can read your Bibles day after day…you can even have a habit of daily prayer.

But if you never go into the studio and put pencil to paper… you will never become what God has created you to become. You can receive the tools for loving God and loving others from sermons and services and songs… but only within the studio of the church - in fellowship - can you learn how to put them to use.

If we are going to grow in Christlikeness… if we are going to be sanctified… we need to take the tools we’re equipped with in sermons and services and songs and actually put them to use in the fellowship of God’s church.

Fellowship is the foundation for becoming more like Jesus. And that's why I'd like to invite you to give this message feet... to practice the fellowship I'm talking about and to experience its transforming power. Christ wants to make you think and love like him, but you've got to move beyond the church pew and into the living room if you're going to see it happen.