Philippians 1:27-2:11 Unity For the Sake of the Gospel
Good morning Family! As you probably know, Heath is taking a well deserved break this Sunday which gives me another opportunity to share God's Word with you all. After my last sermon, I began thinking of some things that I might want to preach on in the future and unity as a church was one of the things that was on my heart. I've titled today's message “Unity For the Sake of the Gospel” and our Scripture is found in Philippians 1:27-30, which we will examine first, and then we will continue with 2:1-11 afterwards. But first, let's pray...
Pray
Philippians is an awesome book. I mean they all are, but there is something about Philippians that is so encouraging. In fact, that was one of Paul's main themes and purpose in writing it. If you ever feel like you need to be encouraged, sit down and read the whole book...or let the Bible app read it for you, it should only take around 30 minutes.. The church in Philippi had a unity problem, there was conflict and division, and Paul wanted to encourage them to live out lives of service to God and to each other as worthy citizens of a heavenly kingdom. He wrote to them from prison, most likely in Rome, and it seems kind of backwards that he is the one writing to encourage them! But that shows the kind of heart and selflessness that Paul had toward his fellow believers. He wanted to make sure they knew that, even with the possibility of execution on the horizon, he was still full of joy through his faith in Jesus. And not only that, but his imprisonment was actually a good thing because it served to advance the Gospel even further.
Directly before the passage that we are going to focus on today is Paul’s famous “To live is Christ, to die is gain” speech. The reason he is able to rejoice in his current situation is that no matter what happens, Christ will be honored. If he dies, he will at last get to be with Christ, but If he is allowed to live longer, that means he gets to continue to help fellow Christians progress in their faith, all to the glory of Christ!
So now with that in mind, let's read our text.
Philippians 1:27–30:
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
A phrase that kept rolling around in my mind as I was preparing for this sermon was: It is the Gospel that unites us, and it is for the Gospel that we have been united. What I mean by that is, the only reason we exist as a church is because of Jesus and what he has done for us. He has brought us together in unity with Himself for the purpose of putting the work of the Gospel on full display for the world to see. My goal is to examine this idea through what Paul has written to the Philippians and to obtain a tangible, working definition of 'unity'. The questions I want to answer are: What motivations do we have to be united? What is the purpose or goal of our unity? And what does our unity look like in real everyday life?
Before we get too far, I want to take a second for us to consider the word ‘unity’ by itself, what comes to mind? Honestly, by itself, I struggle to grasp what the idea of unity really means, let alone what impact it has for us Christians. The dictionary definition of unity puts it like this: the state of being united or joined as a whole…or in a mathematical sense, unity can mean the number ‘one’. Thank you dictionary, I still didn’t find that to be very helpful.
I think the reason is, in order for unity to have any practical meaning or purpose, any life, it has to be attached to something else. Unity requires there to be something of common interest or importance. For example, we live in the United States, and one of the things which is of central importance to its citizens is democracy. Government by the people and for the people. We have a constitution that was unique at the time of its writing and that our military swears to support and defend. It is necessary for them to be unified in defending this because it preserves democracy and the other rights we enjoy.. At its beginning, when people saw this different form of government, some thought it was crazy and fought against it, but others chose to defend it, and still others desired to immigrate from other countries because of all that it promised. What is it that we as Christians can stand for, defend, and promote? Why would anyone care to oppose or join our cause? The answers are found in our text. So, let’s take a look at what Paul wrote to a divided Philippian church.
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ....” The idea of 'worthiness” here does not mean that we have to live our lives as if to earn the gospel, which is impossible anyway, but rather live in such a way that displays the worth of the gospel to you. Let your life show that the Good News of Jesus matters enough to you for you to live in the way that it prescribes. The Greek in this text can also be translated “only behave as citizens worthy of the gospel.” which fits nicely with what Paul says later on in his letter, that our “citizenship is in heaven”. Citizenship was a big deal to the Philippians. If you were a Philippian, you also had the same rights and privileges as a Roman citizen did, which everyone in that day coveted. But Paul is saying, yes, you have these privileges, but they shouldn’t matter to you as much as your citizenship in heaven does. Let your life be a reflection of this fact.
You've heard it said before that this world is not our home, and that is true. We enjoy many rights and privileges by being citizens of the United States, but our true allegiance is to Jesus and His Kingdom.
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”
Paul’s desire was for the Philippians to “stand firm in one spirit” and in the Greek the term ‘stand firm’ is military in nature. It conjures up the image of soldiers standing together in defense of something, against an enemy. In this case, they’re defending the message of the gospel of the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ against the onslaught of the Roman government which says the one “Lord” is the emperor Nero. This was possibly the very reason Paul was in prison and he says the only way to effectively withstand this opposition is to stand together in unity, drawing strength from the One Spirit in us all.
Not only does Paul wish for the Philippians to stand firm against those who would oppose them, but that they would have one mind “striving side by side for the faith of the gospel”. Paul switches imagery from militant to athletic. ‘Striving side by side’ paints a picture of a team of athletes, all working together for the same goal, and in this case the goal is to help each other grow in their faith, and also see the faith of the gospel spread to others. To ‘make and mature disciples’.
In our western culture, the ideas of individualism and independence, the “I can make it on my own” mentality, is praised and encouraged . But in the Kingdom of God, it's just the opposite…Its citizens are made to live as dependent people. Dependent on God first and foremost, but also dependent on each other. Our sanctification and growth aren’t designed to happen only between us and Jesus as individuals, but in the context of the body of Jesus. We need to be unified in this endeavor.
We are to stand firm in the Gospel together, we are to strive for the Gospel together, all without fear of the opposition. We will probably never come close to the persecution that the early church endured, but that doesn’t mean that following Jesus is without a certain amount of suffering. That suffering can take many forms, but we can take comfort as Paul did. “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
“This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”...When the world (and by world I mean your neighbors, friends, coworkers, family, etc.…) looks on as the church is standing fearlessly united by the Gospel of Christ, there are only two reactions it can have. It is either be repulsed or attracted, offended or repentant, they will either oppose you, or seek to immigrate into the Kingdom of God. We have no control over their response, only God does, but it is our responsibility to be a clear, unified, sign to them of the way that leads to destruction and the way that leads to salvation, even if doing so could lead to suffering.
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now still have.” These verses clearly state that our faith in Jesus is a direct gift from God. It also clearly states that our suffering is too, but suffering for His sake. The Philippians and Paul were each going through the same kinds of struggles for pledging their allegiance to Jesus as Lord instead of Nero. Namely, imprisonment and even death. But just as Paul said before, in our suffering we can honor Christ, and in that we can be joyful even if God doesn’t take it away. Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” It isn’t God’s desire that we suffer because He is a mean God, but because He is loving and knows that our suffering for His sake leads to something far, far better.
So.. we made it through the first part and in it we answered our first two questions. Paul urges us to live as worthy citizens of a heavenly kingdom, unified by the faith of the Gospel.. Our motivation for this unity should be to strengthen each other to stand firm against the outside influences that threaten to shake our faith in the Gospel and our purpose for unity should be to strive together for the growth of our faith and the spreading of the Gospel. We are to be a sign to a world doomed to destruction, a light pointing to the way of salvation.
What unites us? The Gospel of Jesus. Why have we been united? To defend and spread the Gospel of Jesus. And now what does our unity in the Gospel look like in real everyday life? Spoiler alert! It looks like Jesus! Let’s read about it in our second section of Paul’s encouragement to the Philippians.
Philippians 2:1–11:
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. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 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.
We need to remember why Paul was writing to the Philippians about unity. It’s because they were struggling with it. There was an internal conflict that was hindering their effectiveness in the defense and spreading of the Gospel! Paul heard about it and wanted to see it dissolved quickly! And unity was the antidote…
He began here by reminding them of some of the Gospel facts. Some of the things that were indisputably common to all believers in Christ. When he used the word ‘if’ of verse 1 of chapter 2, it was not to say that there was a chance that these things were not true, but instead he wrote it with the underlying assumption that they were. A better translation may have been ‘since’. Since you all have felt encouragement in Christ, were comforted by His love, experienced the Spirits participation in their sanctification, and have known the affection and sympathy of our God…..THEN!...
“Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind.” Complete my joy…Remember, Paul was in prison, persecuted, execution was looming… and he told the Philippians that the only thing lacking in his joy was their unity! He told them to be of the same mind. Same mind as what? As each other? Well, yes and no. Yes, so long as they had the same mindset as Jesus. He told them to have the same love. Same kind of love as each other? Yes and no. Yes, so long as they love each other with the same love that Jesus did. Be in full accord and one mind. Unity.
Another word for ‘accord’ is harmony. I recently heard an illustration that I found helpful in understanding what Paul is about to say next. It goes like this. A conductor was asked which instrument was the hardest instrument to play in an orchestra? The conductor thought for a moment and then answered, “Second violin”. He said that he could find many people who wanted to play first violin, to play the lead part, but he could find few who wanted to play second violin willingly and with enthusiasm. And the problem is that if they didn’t have a second violinist, they didn’t have harmony…. ‘Be in full accord’ means to harmonize with your fellow believers. It’s not about being louder, more important, more prestigious, more noticed. It’s about working together to produce something that neither of you could apart. And the only way to do that is through humility.
“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 Greek words which are translated as selfish ambition or conceit are Kenos (empty) and Doxa (glory)...empty glory. This is the desire to be first, to be greater, more respected, and to have a higher estimation of our own worth than we ought. The early Christians were engrossed in a culture that promoted this kind of competitive attitude and gave preference to those in the highest status. It’s not quite so different from our culture now. Everything from who your family was, where you grew up, how well-to-do you are, and how smart you sounded played into your status and worth as a person….and the Philippians were not immune, and neither are we. All for what? Empty glory.
But Paul advocated for something radically different and counter cultural: “but in humility count others more significant than yourself.” This is a tough one. We all struggle with humility. The temptation is strong to look at other people's faults and then not count them as worthy of our time, our love, our ministry. But the truth is, if Jesus did this we would be destined for destruction just like the rest of the world. But thankfully that is not the example our Savior gave us.
In God’s kingdom, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Who did Jesus say will be greatest in the Kingdom? He impressed over and over again, it’s the humble, the lowly, the servant of all. And what does a servant do?
Paul puts it this way, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” He is not saying we need to neglect ourselves and our own needs. But rather to obey the greatest commandment. Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Don’t be selfish!. And in this we will guard against inward disunity and live harmoniously for the sake of the Gospel.
Counting others as more significant and looking to the interests of others is what a true citizen of the Kingdom, Gospel centered, worthy manner of life, kind of unity looks like. It looks like Jesus and this is the kind of unity that will see people immigrating into the Kingdom of God. People don’t care about the organizational ‘oneness’ of the church, that we agree on the color of the carpet, that we arrive at the same place at the same time and do stuff, or even that we have the most flashy and high tech church service broadcast to millions. You know what is going to leave a lasting impression? When people love each other sacrificially. Because that’s different. The people watching the church want to know: Do they care about each other? Is there someone who will love me? Is it a family I can be a part of?
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
This is the example of our Savior. Jesus HAD everything! He had the fullness of glory being in the form of God. God was His Father, Heaven was his dwelling place, He had no need or want of anything, He was all knowing and all powerful, but He emptied Himself. He took the form of a servant, being born into the likeness of men. His father was a nobody carpenter, his hometown was Nazareth where nothing good ever came from, he was born into poverty, as a helpless, powerless baby who had to grow and learn just like you and I. He humbled Himself by obeying the will of the Father, even though it meant suffering, even though it meant death in the most humiliating way….all for us unworthy sinners. We are called to have the same mind as Christ, the same love. We cannot successfully do any kind of ministry without this principle. It is absolutely critical. Jesus did it, and we must too.
But it doesn’t stop there. We can’t stop reading the Bible after Jesus’ death on the cross. That was not the end of His story, and it’s not the end of our unity with Him. Paul continues to the Philippians, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 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.”
After Jesus’ death, he was raised to life, after his burial, his resurrection, after his humiliation, his supreme exaltation in glory. Just like Paul says, in Romans 6 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” … and again in Romans 8 “if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Jesus our model for unity and love, in his obedience to the father, in his sacrifice for the unworthy, and in his selflessness by humbly counting others as more significant than himself... be that way. Be united with Christ and be united with each other, for sake of mutual sanctification, and for the defense and the advancement of the Gospel.
