Loving God By Loving Others--Life With God Series

            As I’ve grown more mature, I believe I’ve developed the ability to stay fairly patient with people who hurt me or insult me. But when someone hurts my children, that’s a totally different story! That’s when my claws come out, and it takes everything I’ve got not to lose my cool.

            When someone hurts my children, I take that personally, and I can’t just pretend like it’s no big deal. To put it another way, I can’t be good friends with someone who isn’t good to my children. If you want to be close to me, you have to treat my children well because I love them dearly.

            According to the Bible, your relationship with God contains that very same principle. As God’s child, if you want to have a close, friendly bond with him, you must show love to your brothers and sisters in Christ. The way you treat them will either help you get close to God or it will hinder you from doing so. In fact, as we’ll learn today, we cannot truly say that we love God well if we do not love his children.

            This truth may rub you the wrong way if you are inclined to think of your relationship with God as an intensely personal sort of thing. It can be tempting to view our intimacy with God as being the sum total of nothing more than how much time we spend in prayer and how much time we spend in Bible study. If that’s true, then our relationships with other people don’t even factor into that equation.

            But the Bible forces us to factor other people into our relationship with God. Your relationship with the Lord certainly does have its personal elements, but what I hope you will see from God’s Word today is that it also has its interpersonal elements.

            Allow me to clarify one thing before we begin to look at some passages together. Some people have interpreted these passages as tests that you can use to measure whether or not you are truly born again. I do not interpret these passages in that way, and I would encourage you not to do so either. I think that interpretive approach has too many theological problems to be a good interpretation. Rather, I think these passages help me as a born-again person to measure whether I am walking in close friendship with the Lord or not. I would encourage you to keep these thoughts in mind as we proceed.

To Love God, You Must Love Others

            The Apostle John tells us in his characteristically blunt fashion in 1 John 4:20-21: “If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

            To John, the issue is cut and dry – if you think you’re loving God well but you hate your brother in Christ, you’re lying! You may not be trying to deceive yourself or anyone else, but that is the reality because loving your brother is part of what it means to love God. In the same way that staying faithful to your spouse is part of what it means to love them, loving your Christian family is part of what it means to love God.

            Now why does John place so much emphasis on sight and love? I think it’s because for John, love is truly expressed through the tangible sacrifices that we make for each other. I show love to you when I make a tangible sacrifice to meet the needs that I can see that you have. Notice what the Apostle wrote back in 3:16-18: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

            Also, the fact that we are physically together gives me extra motivation to love you. We’ve all heard that old phrase, “Out of sight, out of mind.” It’s easy to forget to think about someone if you don’t see them. But since I see you often, I can see it in your face when you’re sad about something, or I can see it when you might be in need of something that is necessary for life. The fact that I can see your needs should tug at my heartstrings and draw out the love that I am supposed to show to you.

            So I simply cannot claim that I am loving God well if I am not loving you well. This is easy to understand by comparison with our biological families. If I am causing pain and anguish for my siblings, how could I say, “I’m being a great child toward my parents?” That claim doesn’t fly with our biological families, and it doesn’t fly in the family of God either.

So we must love each other, and also…

We Must Forgive Each Other

            When we took a look at The Lord’s Prayer two weeks ago, we read these words from the Lord Jesus: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15).”

            In our day and age of cell phones, we’ve all had the experience of having poor reception. Perhaps we’re in an area with a weak signal, or something else might be causing interference. Whatever it is, when someone tries to get in touch with us, their call doesn’t get through because we have poor reception.

            Well, according to Christ, unforgiveness in my heart causes my prayer to have poor reception with God, so to speak. My behavior toward you has created a barrier in my interaction with God. It’s not enough for me to just faithfully follow my Bible reading plan or faithfully work through my prayer list. Until I correct my behavior toward you, that barrier will remain in my relationship with God.

            We saw the same kind of idea a few months ago when we were studying 1 Peter. In his instructions to husbands, Peter wrote this: “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered (1 Peter 3:7).”

            So from these passages, it should be clear – your relationship with God is not just a private matter between you and the Lord. Certainly, some parts of it are, but the way that you behave toward other people also factors into that relationship and affects the degree to which you enjoy a close friendship with God.

            So if we want to have a good relationship with the Lord, we must also have good relationships with other people by loving them and forgiving them when need be. When we will do that, we will find not only a greater unity with the Lord, but a greater unity with each other as well, and that unity will serve as a powerful testimony to the world that the message we proclaim about Jesus is true.

The Power of Unity for Our Proclamation of Truth

            Did you know that Jesus literally prayed for you and me on the night before he died? Christians who weren’t even alive yet at that time – he had us on the mind, and he prayed for us. Notice what he said in John 17:20-23: “I do not ask for these only [meaning the 11 disciples, minus Judas], but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” That’s you and me and all believers who have not seen Jesus in the flesh but have believed in him through the apostles’ testimony in the Bible.

            And what was his desire for us on that night? “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.” Jesus prayed that we would have unity – the same kind of unity of mind, desire, and purpose that he has with God the Father.

            And why did he desire that unity for us? What purpose would such unity accomplish? “So that the world may believe that you have sent me.” When we live in unity, our fellowship has the power to convince people that Jesus truly is the son of God, sent into this world to save mankind.

            Can people learn that by reading about Jesus in the Bible? Certainly they can, but sadly, people have all sorts of ingenious ways of evading the plain truth that they read from these pages. But when they see us living in love, with a unity that our world has never achieved, they will not be able to deny that Jesus has the power to change the hearts of mankind, and the only way that he could have such power is if he is the Son of God.

            Jesus continued his prayer for us: “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.” How will we ever convince the world that we have been saved by a supernatural love if we cannot get along with each other? If they see us bickering and fighting with each other, why would they ever believe that we represent the God who is love itself?

            But if we show them godly unity and love, we give tangible proof of the truthfulness of the Gospel message that we proclaim. So when we love each other, not only do we enjoy close friendship with God, not only do we enjoy close friendship with each other, but we also draw others into the same kind of relationship with God that we enjoy. For we who have received the love of God, should we desire anything less than to see others enjoy that love as well? May we display the unifying power of God’s love in our lives today!

"Philippians in a Nutshell"--Philippians 4:8-9

Labor Day weekend has long represented two things in our country—the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Many schools get started a week or two before Labor Day, but many colleges in particular don’t really get going until after the holiday. So right now, college students all over the country are heading off to school, and some of them are stepping onto a college campus for the first time—which means that they are quickly becoming familiar with the three C’s of college: credit cards, coffee, and CliffsNotes.

If you’re not familiar with CliffsNotes, they’re booklets that summarize that contents, characters, and themes of major literary works like “Romeo and Juliet” or “War and Peace.” Many students turn to CliffsNotes rather than the actual books in order to survive freshman English. That way, they don’t have to read the whole book in order to get an idea of what it says—they can just read these summaries and have all the information they need to write their papers.

In our study of Philippians today, I believe we’re going to encounter the CliffsNotes version of the book. Now, like all of those English teachers out there who despise CliffsNotes, I obviously think that we should study the entire book of Philippians. But in 4:8–9, I believe we find the book of Philippians in a nutshell—a summary of the basic ideas that Paul has been trying to communicate in this letter. What is that summary? I believe its essence is this:

The keys to living in peace are having the right mindset and following the right example.

Turn with me to Philippians 4:8–9. In these two verses, Paul makes a final statement about two of his major themes and how they relate to his overall theme of living in unity under the God of peace. Let’s read these verses [READ Phil. 4:8–9].

Let’s look at Paul’s final statement on these two themes…

I. Have the right mindset (v. 8)

It may have escaped your notice as we’ve gone through this book, but one of Paul’s points of emphasis has been having the right mindset—about ourselves, about others, and about our relationship with Christ. This theme started all the way back in 1:9–10 when Paul prayed for the Philippians to have a love that would “abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent.” And what does Paul tell us to dwell on in 4:8? Anything of excellence.

Then in chapter 2, Paul asks the Philippians to be of the same mind (v. 2), to have humility of mind (v. 3), and to let the mind or the attitude of Christ dwell in them (v. 5). Then in chapter 3, he spent several verses talking about the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord (vv. 7–11).

So now as Paul writes, “Finally, brethren,” and brings the main teaching portion of his letter to an end, he wants to emphasize the proper mindset one final time. He lists a series of characteristics here to help us discern what kind of things to focus our minds on—let’s take a look at them. First, he says “whatever is true.” We know what this idea means—it refers to those things which are accurate, those claims or thoughts that line up with the way things really are.

Second, he says “whatever is honorable.” In our country, we refer to judges as “The Honorable Judge So-and-So,” and the idea is that a judge is dignified and worthy of respect. That’s the idea here in this statement as well.

Third, Paul writes, “whatever is right.” This refers to things which meet the standard of what is acceptable according to the proper standard of right and wrong. Fourth, he writes, “whatever is pure.” This idea refers to things that are not tainted by contaminants. They are clean, and without blemish.

Fifth, Paul says, “whatever is lovely.” We know what we mean when we call a woman lovely—we mean that her appearance is pleasant to look at and attractive. That’s what Paul is talking about here—those things which have a moral beauty about them which make them pleasant and enjoyable to think about.

Sixth, Paul writes, “whatever is of good repute” or good reputation. People with a good reputation are spoken well of by others, and that’s Paul’s thought. He’s referring to things that deserve to be praised. Finally, Paul summarizes these traits by saying “if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Now this verse is often discussed as a helpful guideline for making good entertainment choices. It is described as a filter to help us make wise decisions regarding TV shows, movies, and music choices. I do think that is a good application of this verse; if we would keep these standards in mind when we make choices about entertainment, we would do well. But we must realize that this was not Paul’s primary point. He wasn’t teaching the Philippians how to make good TV choices because they didn’t have TV!

In fact, Paul really hasn’t been talking about how to interact with the culture in this letter. What he has been talking about is the kind of mindset that makes for peace within the body of Christ, so I think he is once again focusing on that idea. If we as individuals would follow this standard, particularly in the way that we think about each other, can you imagine the way that our relationships with each other would be enhanced? What if we chose to focus on what we know to be true about other people? What if we chose not to simply believe everything we hear through gossip, or if we chose not to exaggerate someone’s faults in our minds? How about if we chose to think about the things in other people that are honorable and praiseworthy? We might find some admirable things, even in people that we disagree with. What if we chose to focus on the areas of their life that are right and pure, those areas where we can see that they’re living according to God’s standards? How about if we looked for what is lovely and attractive in other people? At the very least we can see the image of God in others, because all people are made in His image.

What a difference it would make in our outlook if we chose to use those guidelines to think about others rather than camp out on their faults! This is the attitude of Jesus, who chose to take on the form of a servant and regard others as more important than Himself. This is the way for us to think about each other if we want to remain a strong, united congregation. When we choose to think according to a different standard, we will sow the seeds of division in our church. But this mindset will hold us together through thick and thin.

So to live in peace we must first have the right mindset, and second we must…

II. Follow the right example (v. 9)

Throughout this letter Paul has been holding different people up as models or examples of the lessons that he was trying to teach. In chapter two, he holds up Jesus as the prime example of what it looks like to humbly put the interests of other people ahead of your own. Through His willingness to take on a human nature and come into this world as a servant and ultimately to die on the cross for our sins, Jesus demonstrates the kind of willingness that we should have to give ourselves for others.

Then, in the last part of chapter two, Paul held up Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples of men who were also more concerned about others than themselves. Timothy was a trustworthy partner for Paul because of his genuine concern for others, and Epaphroditus risked his life to see that the needs of others were met.

Then in chapter three, Paul called the Philippians to imitate his example of considering everything to be of no value when compared to the all-surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ. Paul described his continual and ongoing pursuit of a more intimate knowledge of Christ, and he asked the Philippians to adopt the same pursuit.

And now, once again, Paul calls the Philippians to follow his example. Perhaps that sounds a little arrogant to you, that Paul would again say, “follow me,” but keep a couple of things in mind here. First, imitating someone else’s example is almost always the easiest way to learn how to do something. If you like to try do-it-yourself repairs around your house, you know what I mean. It’s not often easy to read about how to do something and then do it; it’s almost always easier if you have someone who can say, “Here—let me show you how it’s done.” So Paul wasn’t being arrogant, he was simply tapping into this reality of learning.

Second, remember that literacy back then was not what it is today. Not everyone learned how to read, and even for those who did, there weren’t personal copies of the Bible available for them to take home and study. So people had to rely on another way of learning the Scriptures and of learning how to live as a Christian, and as I just said, imitating someone else’s example is a powerful way to learn.

Now Paul specifically told the Philippians to take the things they had learned and received and heard and seen in him and to put them into practice. This is the perfect follow-up to what he just said in v. 8, because it does us no good to have the right mindset if we don’t live out that mindset with the right actions.

In James 1:21–25, James calls us to be doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. We delude ourselves by thinking that we will be blessed by God for simply hearing the Word, but James says that those who hear it and live it out are the ones who will be blessed. I believe that one of the greatest dangers facing conservative churches today is that we would find ourselves simply being hearers of the Word, and not doers of the Word. We love to hear the Word, don’t we? We could probably fill up every night of the week with Bible studies because we love to learn God’s Word. But if we only learn the Word and we don’t take the next step to live out the Word, we are deceiving ourselves if we think that God is pleased with that. In 1 Corinthians 8:1, Paul writes that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. In others words, knowledge builds up my ego, but love builds up other people.

Do you know who the serious Bible students were in Jesus’ time? The Pharisees, and they were a wonderful bunch of people, right? Always so kind and compassionate toward other people, and humble too! No, what did Jesus say about them? These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Matt. 15:8). They looked so godly on the outside—they went to church every Sunday, they wore Christian t-shirts, they had fish symbols on their cars. Wait, that’s us, isn’t it? But what good does that fish symbol do if I fight with my wife while I drive that car? What good does that Christian t-shirt do if I’m not kind toward others while I’m wearing it?

God does not want mere formality from us. He doesn’t want us to simply have all the right knowledge—He wants us to live it out! We have to have the right mindset AND follow the right example by being doers of the Word and not hearers only. The Philippians had heard—Paul himself had taught them—and now he called them to put the things they had learned into practice. And Paul told them that if they would do this, the God of peace would be with them. Paul referred to God as the God of peace when we wrote to several congregations who had some internal strife among them. To the Romans, the Corinthians, and here to the Philippians, Paul reminds them that God is not a God of strife and conflict but of peace, and they could know His peace in their midst if they would do the things he had told them.

And the same is true for us. I feel that we have a spirit of peace in our church, and for that I’m very thankful. But we could lose that peace if we don’t have the right mindset and if we don’t follow the right example. If we choose to think about each other in negative, critical, or unloving ways, all it would take would be one spark to set off a wildfire of anger in our church. Our if we follow the example of those who view church as a place to be served rather than serve others, we would find the weeds of disunity springing up very quickly. But living together in God’s peace is possible, so let’s pursue it and maintain it by having the right mindset and following the right example.

"Why Can't We All Just Get Along?"--Philippians 4:1-3

The New Testament occasionally refers to believers as soldiers who are in the midst of a spiritual battle. Sometimes, Christians take that metaphor of fighting a bit too literally. Every so often, we stumble across a story in the newspaper about some people who got into a fistfight at church. Sometimes tempers flare after a board meeting or a congregational meeting, and sometimes people bring their own differences into church with them, but these stories always make headlines because of the sheer irony of a fistfight breaking out in a place that is supposed to promote love and forgiveness.

Charles Colson writes about one rather extreme church fight in his book Being the Body.* This particular church had grown to the point where they needed to expand their facilities. In the past they had raised funds for improvements through things like bake sales, but their new pastor informed them that they needed a fundraising plan that was much more ambitious. So, he decided to introduce some friendly competition into the situation by dividing the congregation into two groups to see who could raise the most money. These two groups then decided that they would compete by hosting weekly bingo nights and inviting their friends.

The bingo nights quickly became a popular attraction around town, and before long the church was pulling in about $7,600 a week for their building project. But with that kind of money coming in, accusations of theft and embezzlement started flying back and forth, and tensions in the church reached a fever pitch. It all came to a head one night when the police had to be called in to break up a brawl that had broken out between 50 church members who were fighting each other with broken beer bottles!

Now I hope that none of you have ever witnessed a fight like that in a church—let alone participated in one! But we all know that disagreements and arguments are sadly far too common in churches everywhere. We might be pursuing love and forgiveness, but we don’t always practice it, do we? So how can we resolve conflicts between church members when they come up? This is the thought that I want to focus on today:

How can we resolve arguments that may come up within the church?

Turn with me if you would please to Philippians 4:1–3. In these verses, Paul is going to address the issue of a disagreement that has come up between two women in the church at Philippi. So far in this letter, Paul has repeatedly urged the Philippians to stand united with each other, and he probably had this particular situation in mind the whole time. And now, as Paul turns his attention to this matter, he gives us three helpful lessons about how to resolve arguments that may come up within the church. Let’s see what he has to teach us [READ 4:1–3].

So how can we resolve arguments that may come up within the church?

I. By cultivating a sincere affection for each other (v. 1)

Paul sets the example for us in this area through the description of his feelings for the Philippian believers in v. 1. Notice the way that he describes them. He writes, [READ v. 1]. What a beautiful picture of the affection that should exist between believers! Notice how Paul twice refers to them as “my beloved,” as if he wants to make sure that they don’t miss that point. He also refers to them as “my brethren,” which is the biblical way of thinking about each other. The people around you in these pews aren’t just people who happen to attend the same church that you do—they are your spiritual brothers and sisters, which reminds us of the affection that should exist between us.

Then Paul tells them that he longs to see them. How often is that our attitude when we come to church? How often do we find ourselves longing to see the other people in our church? Most of the time we’re probably just longing for the kids to get their jackets on and get in the car! Or maybe we’re just longing for our Sunday nap before we try and tackle another long week.

But can you imagine the spirit that we would have in our times of worship together if every time we met, we were like long-lost friends being re-united? Think of the joy that we would have if we would allow the Lord to train us to long to see each other! Perhaps we should all take a minute every Sunday morning to pray to God and say, “Lord, you know my frame of mind this morning. You know that I’m distracted by this, that, and the other thing, but please help me today to turn my focus toward other people. Please give me a heart-felt desire to worship you with my brothers and sisters and to do what I can to encourage them.”

I think an attitude like that would certainly help us avoid the arguments that we might be tempted to have with each other. Or at the very least, it would minimize the intensity of our personal disagreements with each other so that we could allow more things to just roll off our backs rather than escalate into a fight.

So we can solve arguments that may come up by cultivating a sincere affection for each other. And second, we can solve arguments that may come up…

II. By remembering our common ground in Christ (v. 2)

Euodia and Syntyche apparently had their differences at the time of Paul’s writing, but that hadn’t always been the case. In v. 3, Paul wrote that both of these women had shared his struggle in the cause of Christ. They had apparently worked together effectively before, and they still had so much common ground spiritually that there was no need for them to be at odds with each other.

Now from our vantage point so many years removed from this situation, we really have no way of knowing exactly what had come between these ladies. It probably wasn’t a dispute over doctrine, because Paul was never shy about correcting people that he felt were promoting error. And notice that Paul doesn’t single out either woman as being primarily at fault—he repeats his command to each of them.

In doing so, Paul reminds us of the biblical process of resolving conflict with another believer—whenever disagreements or offenses occur, both parties involved should seek to take the first step to make things right. If you sin against a Christian brother or sister, you should be willing to take the first step to repair the relationship. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:23–24, “If you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.” If you need to confess your sin to someone and ask for their forgiveness, that is priority number one—even over other acts of worship!

But likewise, if you have been sinned against, you should also be willing to take the first step to repair your relationship. Let us hear the words of the Lord Jesus once again, this time from Matthew 18:15—“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.” Obviously, that is not an easy step to take; we must “speak the truth in love” as Ephesians 4:15 says. We must not go into such a conversation in anger or with an air of superiority. Instead, we must approach such a conversation in humility, with a genuine desire to repair our broken relationship. This is a step that we must take if we have been sinned against, particularly when we start to feel the temptation to be bitter and resentful toward the other person. We cannot allow such feelings to fester in our hearts. We must not give in to the temptation to say, “Well! If so and so wants to be my friend again, let them come and beg for my forgiveness.” That attitude is nothing but pride on our part.

Now notice what Paul was specifically asking Euodia and Syntyche to do—he asks them to live in harmony in the Lord. His language here calls to mind his command of 2:2, where he said [READ 2:2]. Normally when we get into arguments within the church, its either because we’re not acting in love, or we’re pursuing the wrong purpose. Sometimes we just plain fail to act in a loving way toward each other, and that understandably causes division and strained relationships.

But at other times, we start to pursue the wrong purpose in church. Perhaps we start to get a selfish focus, and our primary purpose is no longer to simply serve God, but to get our own way. Everyone has their own ideas about what the church should be doing and how the church should operate, and if other people don’t immediately recognize the genius of our ideas, its easy to get offended. And when that happens, we may continue to push harder and harder for our ideas, not because we’re still focused on simply serving God, but because now we want to get our own way.

But no matter what may cause divisions in the church, we can get ourselves back into the right frame of mind by remembering the common ground that we have in the Lord. In v. 3, Paul stated that these women had served together effectively before. I can hear him saying, “Remember the good times of ministry that you’ve enjoyed together before! You can work together—just turn your focus back to serving God.”

But I think Paul mentions the most important piece of common ground at the end of v. 3, where he states that Euodia and Syntyche and Clement and the rest of his fellow workers all have their names written in the book of life. They were all born-again; they were all children of God, and someday they would all enjoy the peace and joy of heaven together. And if that’s true for them—if that’s true for us in our church, can’t we get along with each other today? Can’t we put aside the petty differences that we face from time and time and live in harmony? The next time you find yourself at odds with another believer, picture yourself standing beside them in heaven, singing together the praises of God for all eternity. Doesn’t that make our differences today seem pretty small by comparison?

So we can solve arguments that may come up by cultivating a sincere affection for each other and by remembering our common ground in Christ. And finally, we can solve arguments that may come up…

III. By helping each other overcome our differences (v. 3)

In v. 3, Paul asks a third party to step in and help these two women resolve their differences. It’s not clear to us today exactly who Paul was addressing in this verse, but he asks this individual to step in and get involved. Notice that he doesn’t ask Euodia and Syntyche to seek out help—he speaks directly to the third party and asks this person to get involved.

This request may strike us as being a little strange, because we live in a culture that prizes individuality and privacy. In our society, we tend to think that our lives are no one else’s business, and we resent it when we feel like people aren’t “minding their own business.” But within the church, we are supposed to act like a family, which means that we need to help each other resolve our arguments and disagreements.

The Bible calls us brothers and sisters, so we can compare the church to an immediate family. Within an immediate family, everyone is affected when two members are fighting with each other. Other members of the family may feel pressured to take sides, and overall there will be a lack of peace and an increased level of anxiety.

But within that family structure, the other members do feel like they have a right and a responsibility to get involved and help resolve the conflict. And within the church, we should have the same mindset. If two members of our church are fighting, that is the church’s business! We are not intruding if we seek to help. The rest of us should offer our help to resolve the conflict, particularly those who already have a close friendship with the people involved. If we turn a blind eye and say “It’s none of my business,” we are not practicing love toward each other.

And it may be quite obvious by now, but with each principle that we have just looked at, a tremendous amount of humility is required to carry them out. If two believers find themselves at odds with each other, it takes humility for one to approach the other and seek to make things right. And for those who would seek to help two Christian brothers or sisters make peace with each other, it takes tremendous humility to step into that situation with love and fairness rather than partisanship and heavy-handedness.

But if we will carry out these principles, we can restore peace with each other when disagreements arise. As much as we might hope that we will never be at odds with another believer, we are all still imperfect. We still struggle with sin, and so we might find ourselves in precisely the same position as Euodia and Syntyche. But if we will cultivate a sincere affection for each other, remember our common ground, and allow others to help us when need be, we need not allow our disagreements to linger. Instead, we can resolve our differences and enjoy peaceful fellowship with each other once again.


*Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn, Being the Body (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2003), 69–71.

"Lights in the Darkness"--Philippians 2:14-18

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.

Minding Each Other's Business--Philippians 2:1-4

Frank Sinatra is probably one of the most well-known singers of the last century. He had numerous hit songs during his career, and even though many of us didn’t live through his peak years, we can probably sing a few lines of his songs. One of his best-loved songs is a song called “My Way.” Let me read some of the lyrics of that song, and as I do I want you to think about the attitude that this song expresses. The song starts like this: “And now, the end is near/ and so I’ll face the final curtain/ My friends, I’ll say it clear/ I’ll state my case of which I’m certain/ I’ve lived a life that’s full/ I’ve travelled each and every highway/ And more, much more than this/ I did it my way.” Then after a couple more stanzas, the song ends with these words: “For what is a man? What has he got?/ If not himself, then he has naught/ To say the things he truly feels/ And not the words of one who kneels/ The record shows I took the blows/ And did it my way.”

Now I don’t intend to psychoanalyze Frank Sinatra here, but this song seems to capture a spirit of individualism and self-determination that we really prize in our culture. We celebrate people who seem to live life by their own rules, people who seem to be able to handle anything that comes their way simply through self-reliance. We cheer on TV and movie heroes like The Lone Ranger, Rambo, Wonder Woman, James Bond, and Jack Bauer.

But did you ever stop to think that even The Lone Ranger had a sidekick? Even Batman had Robin; James Bond always had Q inventing new gadgets that allowed him to do his work. So even when we’re creating characters who are the epitome of the solitary hero, we still can’t get away from the reality that these heroes need other people in order to carry out their work.

So the old cliché is proven true once again: “No man is an island.” We can never get away from the fact that we need each other, and we need to work together with other people in order to accomplish anything in this world. This fact is not simply true in a church, but in fact the church was designed this way by God. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul likens the church to a human body, with the idea being that we all have different abilities and functions, but nevertheless we form one cohesive group that only works when it works together.

In our study of Philippians today, we are going to hear another call to unity from the apostle Paul. In last week’s passage, Paul urged the Philippian believers to stand together like teammates in light of the opposition that they were facing. Today, we are going to see Paul describing the basis for their unity and telling them how they can achieve it. I hope you’ll see clearly today that:

Humility based on our common experience with Christ is the blueprint for unity.

Would you turn with me please to Philippians 2:1–4? In these verses, Paul is going to make a personal appeal to the Philippians based on their mutual relationship with him and with the Lord Jesus Christ. The result is a passionate appeal for unity. Let’s see what he has to say [READ 2:1–4]

In these verses, Paul outlines for the Philippians the basis for their unity and the path that will get them there. Let’s take a look at those two things. First, the basis…

I. Our common experience as Christians is the basis for our unity (2:1–2)
In verses 1 and 2, we find a loaded “if-then” statement from the apostle Paul. The force of this statement is to show us that the logical conclusion from our common experience in Christ is to live in unity with each other. Unity has to be based on some kind of common ground, and Paul is going to remind us that we have all the common ground we need.

Paul begins by connecting this “if-then” statement back to what he had just written about their suffering. He states, “therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ.” The Philippians, you may remember, were facing some opposition from people outside the church, so they were in a situation where they could probably use some encouragement. Paul reminds them here that they can all find encouragement in Christ. Christ gave them all forgiveness and love and a reason to believe that one day things were going to be better, and they all had that encouragement in common.

Not only did they have that encouragement—they also had the consolation of love. Paul probably has in mind here the fullness of the Christian idea of love, that love is something we receive from God which enables us to share it with others. And he describes the product of that love as “consolation,” something that encourages us in the midst of an otherwise discouraging situation. It is something that lifts our spirits.

Then he continues on to write, “if there is any fellowship of the Spirit.” Again, he probably has the full idea of fellowship in mind here—that we all have fellowship with the Holy Spirit that serves as the basis for our fellowship with each other.

And then it seems that he appeals to their feelings for him. I think with this last phrase he is saying, “if you have any affection and compassion for me, then make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” So now his request comes in—he asks them to fill up his joy over them by being united with each other, and he describes that unity with several different phrases. First, he tells them to be of the same mind. Now I don’t think Paul is saying that they have to have exactly the same opinions about everything, because in Romans 14 he writes that Christians may legitimately have different convictions about certain things. Rather, he is calling them to have the same mindset or the same frame of mind toward each other, and he clarifies what that mindset is with the phrases that follow: it is a mindset that points us to love one another, to be like one in our spiritual lives, and to pursue the same purposes and goals in the body of Christ. This kind of mindset will serve to draw us together and keep us unified.

I believe we can think about this mindset in much the same way that a magnet works. I have a basic refrigerator magnet here; now you may remember how a magnet works from science class. It works basically like this: each atom that makes up the magnetic surface has a magnetic field around it. When you hold the magnet up in the air like this, the magnetic fields around the atoms all point their forces in different directions, but when you put the magnet close to a metal surface, all of those magnetic fields start to point in the same direction, which creates a force strong enough to make the magnet stick to the metal.

Now my point is this: if we can all cultivate a mindset toward each other that is pointed in a godly direction, then we’ll have a force that will pull us together—just like the magnet and the metal surface. But if you have a godly mindset toward me, and I have an ungodly mindset toward you, we won’t have that bond because we’ll be pulled in different directions.

And so to go back to Paul’s words here, if we can get our love for each other pointed in the same direction, and our spiritual lives pointed in the same direction, and our goals in the church headed in the same direction, then we will stand together with the same mindset. We will have that unity that he calls us to have.

And then, in the next couple of verses, Paul gives us what really appears to be the roadmap to finding this kind of mindset…


II. Thinking correctly about ourselves and others is the path to unity (2:3–4)
In the next two verses, Paul is going to tell us how to correct our mindset. First he tells us what to avoid—“Do nothing from selfishness (and we know that means to think only about yourself) or empty conceit.” The King James Version uses the word “vainglory” there, which is really a great description—this is an attitude where you’re trying to bring glory to yourself, but in reality you’re just being downright vain. You’re trying to heap praise on yourself that you really don’t deserve.

I imagine its pretty clear why those attitudes would be disruptive to our unity in the church—they would lead us to focus on ourselves. But Paul gives us the antidote in the next statement: “but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Notice how Paul focuses on the mind in this passage—in v. 2 he calls us to “be of the same mind,” and now he calls us to “humility of mind.” I think he’s really emphasizing our thoughts here because the way that we think about each other makes a huge difference in the way that we act toward each other.

I don’t think we often do a great job of policing the way that we think about other people. It’s so easy to let our minds run wild with derogatory thoughts about others because we excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I’d never actually say those things to so-and-so. I’d never tell them how I really think about them.” Well, maybe not, but we have to realize that even though we may not act out in hurtful ways against someone, our thoughts about them may keep us from acting in helpful ways toward them. We may not actually tear them down, but we probably won’t find ourselves building them up either.

The way that we act toward other people is a battle that is won or lost in the mind. It is a battle that is waged long before our mouths start to speak, or before our hands and feet start to move. To change our actions we must change our thoughts, and that’s why Paul calls us to have “humility of mind.”

Now we need to make sure that we have the right idea about what humility means, because its easy to have wrong ideas about it. We often associate humility with tearing ourselves down or belittling ourselves. Think of it like this: suppose that I entered a contest and I won the opportunity to play a game of one-on-one against Michael Jordan. Then imagine that we got together to play our game and he beat 40–0. He stole the ball every time I had it, and he dunked on me every time he had it. Then imagine that afterward we sat down to have a Gatorade together and I said, “Well, Michael, its pretty obvious why they call you the greatest.” And then he says, “Oh, I don’t think I’m really very good at basketball. You probably just had a bad day; I’m sure you’re really a lot better than I am.”

Now some people would say, “Oh, what humility!” That’s not humility—that’s insanity! Humility does not mean that we have to pretend that we’re not talented at something. The best biblical description of humility that I know comes from Rom. 12:3, which says this: “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Humility means that you think about yourself accurately, with sound judgment—not building yourself up too much, and not tearing yourself down.

So the humble person is one who thinks about himself accurately. And that means that humility requires us to think about our relationship to others accurately as well. So Paul warns us against our usual mindset in v. 4 [READ v. 4]. Our usual temptation is to think that our interests, our needs, our opinions are the only ones that matter, and that causes us to focus on ourselves to the exclusion of others. And when that happens, our mindsets start to point in opposite directions again—I’m focused on what seems best for me, and you’re focused on what seems best for you, and all of a sudden we’ve lost that Godward focus that pulls us together.

So to live in humility of mind means that we need to think accurately about ourselves and others. We can remember that we’re valuable in God’s eyes—there’s nothing prideful about that. Yet at the same time we must remember that we are not more valuable than the people around us. We are called to love them as we love ourselves, so a humble mindset calls us to focus on being servants of others for their benefit and well-being.

If we are going to live in unity as a congregation, we must remember that our common experience as Christians gives us a solid basis for unity, and a humble mindset toward each other is the path that will get us there. We must think correctly about ourselves and each other, and a vital factor in the way that we think about ourselves is what we think about our relationship with God. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need to realize something very important about your relationship with God. The Bible says that humanity was created in the image of God, with a deep and intimate relationship with Him. But rather than live to serve God, we decided to serve ourselves; we have rebelled against Him and turned our backs on Him, and the Bible calls that sin. Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Our relationship with God has been broken because of our actions, and because of that we are estranged from God in this life, and we run the risk of being separated from Him for all of eternity if we pass away in this condition.

But because of God’s love for us, He didn’t want things to remain this way. So He decided to do something for us that we could not do for ourselves—He decided to provide a payment for our sins, to send His Son Jesus into this world, God taking on humanity and dying in our place on the cross, then rising from the dead on the third day so that we might have the hope of eternal life. God now offers that hope to us as a free gift—if we will place our faith in Jesus as our Savior, he will forgive us of our sins and restore our relationship with Him, so we can enjoy the relationship with Him that we were meant to have, both in this life and the next.

If you have realized today that you have never accepted God’s gracious gift of forgiveness by faith, you can do that right now by placing your faith in Jesus Christ, believing that he has done everything that was necessary to pay for your sins.

Teammates for the Faith--Philippians 1:27-30

Unity is recognized as an absolutely essential quality whenever a group of people are working together toward a common goal. Sports teams know this all too well. A team that is unified can often find a way to beat a team that is more talented but lacks unity. That’s why we observe things like what just happened in the recent NFL draft—a highly-talented quarterback fell into the middle of the second round because of concerns about his attitude. Teams worried that he would disrupt their unity, so he was taken much later than his talented suggested he would be taken.

But people recognize the need for unity in every area of life. During the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin stressed to the Continental Congress that, “We must hang together or we will certainly hang separately.” He knew that there was no way that the colonies could defeat a force like the British unless they were unified amongst themselves.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced how important unity is for the groups that we’ve been involved in. Maybe you’ve been part of a board or a club that wasn’t unified. You probably remember how much you dreaded going to those meetings, because nothing was ever accomplished and people just bickered with each other. Maybe you’ve experienced some fighting in your family. There’s nothing that can ruin Thanksgiving or Christmas like a good fight, right?

As we continue in our study of the book of Philippians, we’re going to be entering a section today where Paul is going to begin stressing the need for unity within the church. He’s going to tell us why it is important, and then beyond that he’s going to tell us how we achieve unity in our midst. What we will start to see from Paul today is this:

Living as one is goal number one in the life of the church.

Would you turn with me please to Philippians 1:27–30? Last week we looked at Paul’s tagline for life, the one statement that summed up how he looked at everything: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” He was pondering whether his imprisonment might end up in life or death, and he concluded that God would allow him to continue to live because that would be beneficial for the Philippians. But as we’ll see in today’s passage, Paul knew that there was a possibility that he wouldn’t see them again. Even if he was released, other things might come up that would keep him from going back to Philippi, so Paul now instructs them about the main thing that he wants them to focus on, whether he ever sees them again or not [READ 1:27–30].

From these verses let’s focus on two perspectives on standing together:

I. We must stand together as teammates in light of the Gospel (1:27–28)
Let’s take a look first of all at what Paul says in v. 27 [READ v. 27] Paul uses a couple of meaningful word pictures to get his point across here. The first lies behind his command at the beginning of the verse to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” His word picture is a little tricky to convey in English, but a very literal translation of his word picture would say, “act like citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Paul was apparently drawing on the idea of Roman citizenship and the concept of living up to the standards of a citizen.

For us in America today, we don’t really think about our citizenship very much. I think every person in this room was probably born as an American citizen. That wasn’t true in the Roman Empire—even if you were born in the Empire, you weren’t automatically a citizen. Citizenship was an honor that was usually awarded for some kind of heroic or notable act—though like anything else it could also be purchased if you had enough money! Now most of the people in the Philippian church were Roman citizens because the emperor Octavian had granted the inhabitants of the city citizenship after he won a major battle there against the men who assassinated Julius Caesar. Roman citizenship was very desirable because it gave you certain legal rights, but it also had certain responsibilities that you were supposed to live up to as a good citizen, and it seems that Paul was drawing on that idea in this word picture.

He’s going to remind us over in chapter 3 that we are now citizens of heaven, but along with that come certain obligations. We have new obligations toward God. For example, God has adopted us into his spiritual family, so we are to act as obedient children. We also have a new master, the Lord Jesus Christ, so now we are supposed to serve Him rather than our sinful impulses.

We also have obligations toward each other since we are all united by our faith in Christ. If you want to do a challenging Bible study some time, do a study of all of the “one another” commands in the New Testament and look at all of the things that we are called to do for each other. We are supposed to love one another, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens, submit to one another in proper channels of authority, be kind to one another, etc.

So it seems that Paul is saying that we need to live up to the obligations that we now have since we’ve accepted the Gospel, and he goes on to stress that a key aspect of that is standing together in and for the Christian faith. In the last part of v. 27, he writes of his desire that “I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now in the Greek behind the words “striving together,” Paul uses a word picture from the world of athletics. He actually uses the verb athleō, from which we get the English words “athlete” and “athletic.” So when he calls us to “strive together,” with his word picture he is calling us to be like teammates for the faith.

What a great picture for us to imitate as we live and serve together as believers—we are teammates. Teammates rally together behind a common goal—in our case, our common goal is to honor God by living as His ambassadors in this world. Teammates are supposed to place their egos under this common goal, so that achieving the goal is more important than getting our own way. Teammates cheer each other on and celebrate when they have victories—just think about when a player scores a touchdown in football; the quarterback might go running down the field to chest bump with his wide receiver or the running back might hug the linemen. What a great way to think about each other—as teammates for the faith!

And unity like this is all the more important when opposition from outside comes our way, as the Philippians were apparently facing. Paul tells them in v. 28 to be “in no way alarmed by your opponents.” You might remember that when Paul first visited Philippi, he was thrown in jail because some residents of the city felt that the message of Christianity was a threat to the Roman way of life. Some of these same residents may have still been harassing the Christians there, so Paul tells them to stand together as teammates and to not be unsettled by their opponents. Paul says that such a show of confidence would be a sign or a demonstration of two things. First, it would be a sign of destruction to the opponents. By remaining fearless, the believers would show their belief that God was going to take care of these opponents. Whether its now or at the final judgment, God will bring wrath against those who oppose His people. What an omen for the opponents! But for the believers, a confident stand would be a sign of salvation. Their faith in God would shine through like a light in the midst of the darkness of persecution.

So a united front against this opposition would send a strong message to their opponents AND it would be a strong encouragement to the believers. And the mention of opponents brings us to our second perspective on standing together:

II. We must stand together in light of the persecution that God may graciously allow (1:29–30)
In verses 29 and 30, Paul puts persecution in a perspective that in some ways is mind-boggling, particularly for us in a country like the United States where persecution is so foreign to us [READ vv. 29–30]. In verse 30, Paul refers to his imprisonments—the Philippians had seen Paul in prison when he was in Philippi, and now they were hearing about his imprisonment in Rome. And Paul states that they were experiencing the same conflict, which could mean that some of them had spent time in prison because of their faith.

So they were suffering because of their faith, and Paul referred to that as a gift that they had been granted by God. And notice that he puts it on the same level as the gift of faith in Christ! So if we think that believing in Christ is an honor, suffering for His sake is an honor on the same level!

I have to admit that its hard for me to wrap my mind around discussions of suffering like this, and I would venture to say that this might be true for you as well. I mean, I get what Paul is saying here, but persecution is so foreign to our experience in the United States that I think its difficult for us to relate to passages like this. As a result, I’m not sure that we always respond to the idea of persecution in the best ways.

I think commentator Gordon Fee summarizes our reactions well. He writes, “the content of Paul’s explanation is something contemporary Christians hear reluctantly, either out of guilt that so many of us look so little like this, or out of fear that it might someday really be true for us.”* Let’s think about both of those reactions for a moment. First, I think there can be at times a temptation for us to feel guilty over the fact that we don’t really face much persecution to speak of in this country. We might be tempted to think that we’re mediocre Christians because we don’t face the persecution that is a reality for many of our brothers and sisters around the world. But I don’t think the Bible gives us any reason to feel guilty about the religious freedom that we enjoy. Jesus did say in Matthew 5 that we are blessed if we endure persecution for His sake, but the Bible never tells us to seek persecution or desire it. Persecution is under God’s control—He may choose to allow it and He may not; we just need to make sure that we stay faithful to Him no matter what.

But let’s think about this second reaction for a moment—the reaction of fear. I think this is probably a more common reaction for us. We hear about the persecution that’s going on right now in places like China and Sudan and we become fearful that those same things may one day start to happen to us here in the United States. And then we often feel that what we need to do is expend our energy ensuring that America remains a comfortable place for Christians to live. But I’m not sure that’s the proper reaction either, because I don’t think it seriously wrestles with the passages like this that talk about the blessings that can come from persecution.

So how should we respond to verses that talk about persecution when its not a daily reality for us? Let me suggest two ways. First, we can stand together with our brothers and sisters who are facing persecution right now. Because of the atrocities of Hitler and Stalin and Chairman Mao in China, the 20th century was the deadliest century in history in terms of Christian persecution, and much persecution continues today. Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body [of Christ].” Organizations like Voice of the Martyrs do a great job of keeping us informed about how we can help Christians who are suffering persecution right now. So we can stand together with them!

Second, since we don’t face much persecution, we should be even more diligent to make sure that we don’t get distracted from being dedicated to Christ. Let me explain what I mean. I will never forget what I was told by a friend of mine who pastors a church in Kansas City. A few years ago he attended a meeting where he met an elderly Christian woman from China who talked about the persecution that she had faced for her faith. She had been in and out of prison several times for witnessing to others, but she told my friend that Christians in China pray for us because they believe it must be extremely difficult to live for Jesus in the United States when we have so many things to distract us—things like leisure, wealth, comfort, entertainment, etc. So they pray for us that we would be able to keep our focus on Jesus and not be distracted by other things.

For those believers, persecution is an external factor that forces them to stay focused on Jesus. But since we don’t really have an external factor like that, we have to be more diligent for ourselves to make sure that we stay focused on Christ.

And you know friends, standing together can help us do that. Paul wanted the Philippian believers more than anything else to focus on standing together, and that lesson is just as important today as it was back then. We are teammates for the faith, so we need to seek for a unified team spirit. We should encourage each other when we see someone doing something well. We should pick each other up when we’re hurt. We should celebrate together and cry together and rally around the common goal of bringing glory to God. This will help us stay on track, and it will give us strength if persecution ever does come our way.