Keeping Unity in the Gospel Community

When I do premarital counseling, one of the sessions I do with the couple is called learning how to fight. When I tell them that I am going to show them how to fight they often look at me like I’m crazy. Most of them are so infatuated with one another they become offended when I suggest that they will fight in their marriage.

I go on to tell them that when you have to imperfect people trying to live with one another, there will be fighting. When that happens, they need to learn how to fight correctly.

What is true of marriage relationships when it comes to conflict is also true of church relationships. The idea that churches don’t deal with conflict one some level is wishful thinking and denial.

If you have been active in church life then you probably have a story or two concerning church fights. In the early 1970s, a large church in Dallas made the news because of conflict. One side of the conflict sued the other side for the church property. The court would not hear the case until the groups took their issued to the ecclesiastical court in their denomination. The ecclesiastical court ruled in favor of one side, causing the other side to leave and start their own church. The paper reported that the cause of the division started at church dinner. I can’t imagine what the issue was that would cause such division, but it was enough to make the papers.

I could spend the whole sermon telling you conflict that I have experienced over the years. There is not many stories of church conflict that surprise me anymore.

In my studying for this message I came across a book written several years ago that was titled Great Church Fights. My first thought when I read the title was that it was a compilation of church fight stories throughout church history, but the book was too small for something of that magnitude. Instead, it was as book about resolving church fights in a healthy and Biblical manner, resulting in a great church fight.

You can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will find God’s people struggling with internal conflict, division, and disunity. Even in the New Covenant, God’s people indwelt by the Holy Spirit struggled with division and disunity.

Paul addresses the issue of unity in five of the letters he wrote because unity is very important to the life of the church and the witness of the church. It was Jesus himself who prayed for unity in John 17:20-23: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Unity is also important because we are commanded to preserve and maintain the unity of the Spirit of God. By doing so, we fulfill the command of Philippians 1:27 to live worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Philippian church was a fairly unified church, but there was some conflict that was beginning to threaten the church, and Paul doesn’t hesitate to deal with it before it hinders the church and its witness. In the first four verses of chapter two, Paul deals with unity head on.

I love how Paul deals with the subject, knowing that their was an issue at hand. Paul simply commands them in verse two to make his joy complete. Paul was already full of joy because his adversity was advancing the gospel, but the Philippians could add to in and make it complete by keeping the unity in the gospel community. Notice what Paul writes in the first four verses of Philippians 2:1-4: “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Verse one is the grounds for the appeal for unity. You could say that it is the reason that unity is even possible. Paul appeals to the uniting experience of salvation as the basis for unity.

The uniting experience of salvation is the basis for unity.

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy”

Paul’s appeal to unity is based upon the reality of salvation. If you are a born-again believer, then you have, through faith in Christ, experienced the comfort and encouragement of Christ, the the love of God through Christ, the presence and the Holy Spirit, and affection and sympathy from Christ. In other words, your life has changed because of your experience of salvation.

What I love about this verse is how we enter into a relationship the the three-person God, the trinity. We begin this dance with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that brings us comfort, encouragement, love, and fellowship with God. This is what makes us Christian. This is what makes us the church. This is what produces unity in the church.

Paul takes the Philippians back to the day that they all experienced the supernatural work of salvation in the lives. I imagine Paul is full of emotion as he reminds not only the Philippian church, but himself of the life-changing grace of salvation.

Every born-again believer has experienced what Paul described in verse one. If you say, “I haven’t experienced these things” then you haven’t experienced salvation. What is beautiful about what Paul describes in verse one is the fact that as believers, we are all in this relationship with the triune God together, and we are all experiencing the comfort, love, and fellowship of the Spirit together. We can be from different races, nations, political backgrounds, social and economical positions, but we all are united in this common experience with Christ.

Of course, with such diversity in the body of Christ, it proves to be a challenge when it comes to maintaining the unity of the church. Therefore, Paul moves from the common experience of salvation to the concern and call for maintaining unity in verse two. In verse two we find the unifying emphasis on the Savior needed for maintaining unity.

The unified emphasis on the Savior needed for unity

“complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

Notice the expressions that Paul uses to basically emphasize unity: same mind, same love, full accord, and one mind. All of these seem to be synonymous expressions of unity. Paul’s accumulations of phrases drives his point home for maintaining unity.

I think we need to begin understanding this verse by describing what Paul does not mean. He is not saying that we all have to love country music, or rap music, or the same types of music. We don’t all have to like drums in worship, or hate drums in worship. We don’t all have to consider ourselves cowboys, and become a cowboy church, or bikers, and become a biker church. We don’t all have to be republicans, or democrats, or independents, or not politically involved at all. We don’t have to have the same haircuts, or agree not to wear jeans. We don’t all have to agree on when Christ’s returns, or how the gifts of the Spirit operate. In other words, we don’t all have to have the same preference, or prejudices, or likes and dislikes. He’s not saying this because there is diversity in the body of Christ. So what does he mean?

He begins with “same mind” and ends with “one mind.” It means to have a unity of direction, a common mind and unity of thought and will as the congregation emphasizes Jesus. Notice what the emphasis has been in chapter one. Beginning in verse five you have the “participation in the gospel.” In verse seven you find the “confirmation of the gospel.” In verse twelve you see the “advance of the gospel.” Go to verse sixteen and you have “the defense of the gospel.” Then you come to the beginning of the section dealing with life in the gospel community and you find the command to “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” What does a unified congregation emphasis? Or better who does the unified congregation emphasize? Jesus Christ, the Savior.

The church must be gospel-focused, gospel-oriented people in who we relate and take care of each other as a gospel community. This focus is needed to maintain the unity of the gospel community. As one person put it, the church must have a common interest and allegiance to Jesus Christ. Notice what it says in Philippians 2:10-11: “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Who is Lord? Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord of all, and especially the church.

We begin maintaining unity with the common allegiance and and interest in Jesus Christs the Lord, which it turn maintains unity with a unifying expression of sanctification.

The unifying expression of sanctification that maintains unity

Sanctification is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. Another way to put it is striving individually and corporately to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this to be successful, we must for emphasize a common allegiance to Jesus Christ, which in turn will regulate how e relate to one another, maintaining the unity of the Spirit.

We begin maintaining unity with the common allegiance and and interest in Jesus Christs the Lord, which it turn maintains unity with a unifying expression of sanctification.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

The first part of verse three reveals the enemy to maintaining unity: selfish ambition and conceit. The first word is the symptom and the second the root. One is the effect, and the other the cause.

The word translated “selfish ambition” literally means “hyper-fighting.” It’s a spirit of rivalry. It’s the spirit that lives to fight.

We see it on full display in our nation at this time. We have people identifying themselves with different factions, groups, and politics, resulting in division. This type of spirit can easily take over a church.

Spirit of rivalry is governed by self, or selfish ambition, not truth or reason. If truth governs your needs then you can actually have a conversation with someone with the understanding that truth will prevail, not my needs.

On the other hand, if needs becomes the bottom line, then your needs will govern your understanding of truth. It will be about your rights, your groups rights, your preferences, but not about truth and reason.

The root or cause of selfish ambition is conceit. You can also translate it vain glory or pride. The Greek word used combines two words one meaning “empty” and the other “glory.” It’s only used here in the New Testament. It speaks of the glory a person bestows on himself.

You could put it this way: selfish ambition is what I want, and conceit is the reason I want it. “I want to be prominent (selfish ambition) because I’m more deserving (vain conceit). I want others to yield to what I say (selfish ambition) because my thoughts, my desires, and my happiness matter more than theirs (vain conceit). I want my way (selfish ambition) because of my importance (vain conceit). This is the spirit that causes dissension, creates conflict, and leads to splits or departures.”

And this is spirit is the enemy of maintaining unity. Instead, we must maintain unity with a unified expression of humility and selflessness.

The last part of Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Humility is the opposite of selfish ambition and conceit. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

The exercise of humility was counter-culture in Roman Philippi. It would be a totally new concept for a Christian from high standing to look at someone of lower status as more significant. Roman culture sure didn’t. In the church, they were all a part of the family of God, no longer rivals. Therefore, they needed to exercise humility and put others before self.

He goes on in Philippians 2:4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Christians maintaining unity look at others as more important than themselves, not better or more valuable, but more important. Instead of looking out for self, we look out for others by honoring, serving, strengthening, and encouraging them.

And when this happens, God’s people are submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and allowing the Spirit to control their lives, not the flesh, which results in maintaining the unity of the Spirit, and ultimately, becoming the answer to Jesus’s prayer in John 17.

When I’m struggling with selfish ambition and conceit, I find the words of Isaac Watts have a way of humbling me:

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

We keep the unity of the gospel community because of the experience of salvation that unites us, the unified emphasis on the Savior, and the unifying expression of sanctification. When we do this, we become a community of little Christ.Attitude