Contemplating an individual’s last words has always been very fascinating for some people. Obviously, not everyone has the opportunity to say some last words before they pass away. Many people die suddenly and unexpectedly, so they don’t have an opportunity to gather friends and family around them and offer any last words. But some people do get that opportunity, and many people have found it fascinating to study their last words. Last words seem to offer a glimpse into the heart of another person, because we tend to think that they represent the thoughts and emotions that were most important to that individual.
This fascination with last words was captured well in the movie Citizen Kane. This movie follows the life of a fictional character named Charles Foster Kane, who made a fortune in the newspaper industry in the early 1900’s. The movie actually begins with Kane’s death inside the gaudy mansion he had built for himself called “Xanadu.” In the opening scenes, we witness Kane passing away, and on his death bed he is holding a snow globe and he utters a single word—the word “rosebud.” The rest of the movie follows a reporter as he tries to uncover the meaning behind the word “rosebud,” and we see a series of flashbacks that tell us about Kane’s life as the reporter interviews some of Kane’s closest associates. Ultimately, the meaning behind this word does in fact give us a window into the heart of this wealthy and powerful man.
Think about this idea of last words with me, if you will, in the life of Jesus Christ. I don’t think we should elevate any of Jesus’ words as being more important than anything else that he said, but on the night before Jesus’ died, we do find that he had a particular burden on his heart for those who would become his followers through the witness of the disciples—in other words, for you and for me. He had a repeated request that he mentioned in his prayer to the Father in John 17—namely, that we would live with each other in unity. Notice what the Lord asks for in John 17:20–23 [READ John 17:20–23]. There in the span of just a few verses, Jesus repeatedly prays that we would live in unity.
If this desire was in the forefront of Jesus’ mind on the night before he was crucified, then we shouldn’t be surprised to find the disciples emphasizing it in their writings. As we continue on in our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we will find again today that the apostle instructs them about living together in peace and harmony. This call for unity might start to sound like a broken record since we have already heard it before, but the reasons that Paul gives in Phil. 2:14–18 make these verses a helpful addition to Paul’s instructions. In these verses, we will see that…
We should avoid petty arguments for the sake of our witness to the world and for the sake of our mutual joy.
Let’s read these verses, and then we’ll take a look at the two parts of this lesson [READ 2:14–18]. We find the first part of this lesson in verse 14 down through the first part of verse 16.
I. We should avoid petty arguments for the sake of our witness to the world
Let’s read these words here one more time before we start to break this down [READ v. 14–16a]. As we look at what Paul says here, it seems clear—especially in the Greek words that he selects—that he is drawing from the Old Testament records of Israel’s wanderings under Moses. You may remember from the Old Testament that after God delivered the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He led them up to the land that He had promised to give them, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. But the people at that time refused to trust that God would help them conquer the peoples that already lived there, and so as an act of discipline, God caused the people of Israel to wander around in the desert for 40 years until the generation that refused had died off. And you might remember that during that entire ordeal—from the time they left Egypt until they eventually settled in the Promised Land—the Bible says that the people were grumbling and complaining about various things. At one point, it says that they complained because they had no meat, even though God was miraculously providing bread for them every day (Num. 11). At another time, some of them complained about the fact that Aaron and his family had been chosen by God to do all of the priestly work around the tabernacle (Num. 16). These individuals wanted to do part of that work, too. Time and time again they complained about various things and said that they wished they were back in Egypt.
It seems that Paul in these verses is subtly drawing on that history to instruct us not to act the same way. The word “grumbling” here calls up thoughts of petty complaints and divisions, and the Greek word translated “disputing” focuses on the way of thinking that lies behind those arguments. So we are not to get caught up in petty disputes, and we’re not even to allow our minds to remain in that frame of mind.
And the purpose of this command is stated in v. 15, “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent.” You might remember when we talked about the idea of being blameless back in chapter 1—its not the idea of being without sin, it’s the idea that no one can raise an objection against the way that you live. And the idea of being “innocent” here speaks of our inner motives and attitudes, that they would be pure and godly.
But then Paul goes on to mention that living in unity without grumbling and disputing is very important for our witness to the people around us. Continuing in v. 15, Paul says that such a way of living will show us to be “children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life” (or we might say, “by holding fast the word of life”). Paul really brings this issue to a head here by telling us that unity matters not just for our life inside the church, but for our witness outside of the church as well. He paints our mission here in stark terms, saying that we are “children of God…in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.”
Now Paul isn’t trying to insult non-Christians here; he is simply offering an assessment from God’s point of view. By God’s standards, those who are not his children are crooked and perverse—they are crooked because they are not “level” with his standards; like a picture that isn’t hanging straight. And they are perverse because they have taken his true standard of right and wrong and exchanged it for a false standard.
But according to this passage we have the opportunity to point out the way back to God. Paul says that among the unbelieving world we “appear as lights in the world by holding fast the word of life.” Some translations read “stars” here, and that gives us a good picture of Paul’s meaning.
Back when Paul was writing, the “lights” in the sky were used for navigation. During the day, people could watch the course of the sun and get their bearings from it, and at night the stars allowed people to chart a course and follow it to their intended destination.
So what Paul is saying is that in the spiritual realm, we can function in that way for the people around us—we can point out the path to God by holding fast (or holding forth) the word of life. But our effectiveness in this depends so greatly upon how well we carry out the command in v. 14—do all things without grumbling or disputing! If you remember what we heard from Jesus in John 17, He stated that our unity would add credence to our witness. In John 17:21 he prayed for us and asked “that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.” Then in v. 23 He says, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
The reason that such unity adds legitimacy to our witness is that it is supernatural—it is not the norm in our world. Because of the selfishness that is in all of us, the norm in relationships is disunity—fighting and bickering and complaining against each other. So if we show the people around us that it is possible to live in harmony with each other, our witness to the world will be clothed in a spirit that is attractive and desirable, a spirit that will convince people that our message is true.
But if we fight and bicker with each other, we will do great damage to our witness in this community. As one author put it, “How will the world ever discover church again if what they see… is, in reality, people no different than themselves, living in what appears to be a fantasy?”* And that’s exactly what Christianity will look like if we can’t live in unity—a fantasy! We can talk all day about being brothers and sisters in Christ, but if we don’t live it out then we’ll simply be one more dysfunctional family, and many people already have that at home! They won’t want to join another dysfunctional family by coming to church!
So our success at living together in unity will gave a tremendous impact on our witness to the world. And obviously it will have a great impact on the joy that we share with each other. That’s the second part of this lesson that we need to consider.
II. We should avoid petty arguments for the sake of our mutual joy
In v. 16, Paul goes on to add a personal perspective to this discussion. As if the Philippians didn’t already have reason enough to follow this command, Paul asks them to do it “so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” Paul is looking ahead here to the day that he will stand before Christ to receive his rewards, and in that moment he doesn’t want his ministry among the Philippians to turn out to be fruitless. He wants to be able to rejoice in that day as he sees the fruit that came from his ministry.
Perhaps this sounds like an unusual thing for Paul to ask—that the Philippians would obey so that he could rejoice—but other verses also talk about this idea as a good motive for obedience. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
You can think of obedience to the Lord like a gift that you can give to your spiritual leaders. Perhaps over the years you have heard about different gifts that churches have given to their pastors. I heard about one church that gave their pastor something like an “extreme makeover” on his house. They sent his family away on vacation and did some remodeling for him while they were away. I’ve always gotten a little chuckle out of the reserved parking spots that churches sometimes give to their pastors. In my sense of humor, I wonder if the church is trying to gently tell the pastor that he’s handicapped or something!
If you would really like to give me a gift that will be special and priceless, then do this for me—just get along with each other! That will keep the hair on my head a little longer, and probably keep me from getting ulcers! Just love each other, and work together to serve the Lord. I would enjoy nothing more than to see that my ministry here is bearing fruit and making a difference.
Paul goes on here in v. 17 to make an interesting statement about the relationship between his ministry and their service for God. He says [READ v. 17]. Paul is painting a picture here that’s based on the sacrificial system from the Old Testament. The drink offering consisted of a cup of wine that was poured out with certain burnt offerings. With these sacrifices it was kind of the icing on the cake, the final act of devotion, and it could be that with this picture Paul was thinking about the possibility that he was going to lose his life as a martyr in his imprisonment. And it seems that Paul is saying, “Even if my life and ministry among you is just the icing on the cake of what your service for God will accomplish, I will rejoice in that and I’ll share my joy with you.” Paul longs to see continued fruitfulness from the Philippians, and even he plays just a small part in that, that’s enough for him to rejoice, and to encourage the Philippians to rejoice, as he does in v. 18.
So we get such a great glimpse of Paul’s heart in these verses, both for the world and for the Philippians. So much joy, and so much potential for ministry awaited the Philippians if they could just serve together without complaining, without grumbling, without falling into petty disputes with each other. And the same things await us if we will conduct our ministry in this way. We can have a mutual joy that will become infectious and give legitimacy to the message that we preach to a watching world. How can we really claim to represent the Prince of Peace if we can’t live at peace with each other? But if we do, we can show the people around us the way to peace.
So I want to ask you today to think about the people who are sitting in the pews around you right now. As you think about your brothers and sisters in Christ, are you struggling through a strained relationship with any of them right now? Is there something between you that is keeping you from being at peace with each other? Do you need to ask their forgiveness for something? Have you pulled away from them because they’ve offended you in some way? I ask you today, not to let these things go, but to resolve them. Ask for forgiveness where its necessary; offer forgiveness where its necessary. Don’t settle for a cold relationship with a brother or sister in Christ when you could share joy with each other, and when restoration in your relationship could be just the thing that God will use to bring someone else to himself.
* Bob Lewis and Rob Wilkins, The Church of Irresistible Influence (Grand Rapids; Zondervan, 2001), pg. 25.
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