Philippians 2:1-11
The book of Philippians has some missionary tones to it.
It is a missionary book in many ways.
AThe Gospel@ means a great deal to Paul
It is a book about a harvest.
And how can we have the harvest that God would want us to have.
I. The Conditions of a successful harvest
Look in 1:27
When Paul tells them to strive together for the gospel he is not just meaning that we should defend the gospel.
What he is telling them is that the Agospel@ is good news.
And it is not the gospel unless it is shared, unless it is told.
But there is something else that appears out of this verse.
AI may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind@
The gospel must be the business of everyone of us.
Whether it is working with RA=s or GA=s.
Whether it is working with the Youth or Senior Adults.
Even working with the Choir.
We need a unity of goal and that goal is for the sake of the gospel.
Now Paul carries this theme on over into chapter two.
He knows that if the gospel is going to be spread in anyway it must be because of unity of purpose.
The church must be unified.
There seems to have been some trouble on the home front.
Were the members beginning to get on each others nerves?
Were they beginning to dwell on the negatives of their fellow members?
We can only speculate through reading the Scripture found in the first part of chapter two.
V. 1
Paul was telling them that if they received any comfort or encouragement from their vital union with Christ.
If you have felt any of the comfort of the love of Christ in your life.
If you are rejoicing at all in the marvelous Spirit-fellowship.
If you have experienced any of the tender mercy and compassion or Christ.
Then prove your gratitude for all of this by loving your brothers and sisters in Christ.
V. 2
Paul is telling them that his greatest desire for them is that they be one.
Because Paul knows that as long as they are not one what suffers is the Gospel.
V. 3
ALet nothing be done through strife or vainglory@
If everyone is constantly thinking of himself alone, how can unity ever be brought about?
Strife and vainglory are Selfish ambition and empty conceit.
They had selfish motives and the craved honor and prestige for themselves.
ABut in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves@
This is when in a church each member counts the other better than themselves.
Thus the members, filled with tender affection, will be outdoing one another in showing honor.
V. 4
If one regards the brother very high, he will wish to look to his interest in order to help him in every possible way.
Now Paul is thinking.
How can I drive this point home.
How can they truly see what I am talking about?
Then he writes V. 5
Don=t take this out of context.
It is tide in with verse four.
Paul is thinking that what they need to do is have the mind of Christ.
He knew that if the Philippians could see just how much that Jesus went through so that man might be saved then it would change their whole perspective on their fellowman.
And I say today, that if only we could get the mind of Christ about us as well, we would be different.
We have seen the conditions
Now we must see
II. The Cost of a Successful Harvest
V.v. 5-8
What is the Cost?
The cost is that we too must have the mind of Christ.
And Look what it cost him.
What does it mean to have the mind of Christ?
We know that it does not mean the knowledge of Christ because He was omniscient.
There is no way that we can copy his redemptive acts.
We cannot suffer and die vicariously.
It was he, he alone, who was able to satisfy the divine justice and bring his people to glory.
But with the help of God, we can copy the Aspirit@ that was basic to these acts.
And I think that the little phrase that catches it all is found in V. 7
ABut made himself of no reputation@ - He emptied Himself.
And this emptying of himself affected how he did ministry.
It affected how he treated people.
This is why he had the little children come unto him.
This is why he would touch the unclean leper.
This is why he would go and save the life of an adulterer.
He emptied himself.
And I must admit....I don=t always empty myself.
I=m quite selfish with my time.
I won=t go the extra mile.
I believe that Christ=s attitude can be seen in a expression.
It was seen in his tear=s
(Luke 19:41 KJV) And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
(Mat 9:36 KJV) But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
(Mat 14:14 KJV) And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
(Mark 1:40 KJV) And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.(Mark 1:41 KJV) And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
You see Jesus was a weeper.
He was a man of compassion that emptied himself.
When the church today asks the question: AWhy can=t we have the ministry that Christ had?@
It is because few are willing to empty themselves for the service of God.
We have very few weepers today.
Weepers?
Isn=t that being pretty shallow preacher?
I mean we Baptist shouldn=t be so shallow as that, should we?
Friends I=m not talking about shallow emotionalism.
What I=m talking about is looking over a city or a community or just over a home.
Just like our Savior.
And be moved with such compassion...because inside that city, community, or home there are people without Christ.
Being moved with such compassion that we are moved to tears.
That is what is missing.
Listen to this OT passage
(Psa 126:5 KJV) They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
(Psa 126:6 KJV) He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
It is the weepers that are the reapers in the Kingdom of God.
God says that if we would just go forward weeping that we shall return reaping.
C.H. Spurgeon said, AWhen a man=s heart is so stirred that he weeps over the sins of others, he is elect to usefulness. Winners of souls are first weepers of souls. As there is no birth without travail, so is there no spiritual harvest without painful tillage. When our hearts are broken with grief at man=s transgression we shall break other men=s hearts: tear of earnestness beget tears of repentance.@
If you want joy....you must weep.
So where are the weepers.
I=m afraid that like many of our baseball teams we have traded off the weeper in today=s church.
We have traded him and also like many of our baseball teams we have made some very bad trades.
A. We have traded our Weepers for Beepers
Beepers are those who always have something to honk about.
They are those ones who can always find the reason why we can=t do something.
And like in most cases the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
One spoiled apple tends to spoil the whole barrel.
We have plenty of beepers.
We have traded our Weepers for Beepers but Beepers can=t be Reapers in the Kingdom of God
B. We have traded our Weepers for Deepers
Deepers are those who just think they are soooooo spiritual.
They don=t need Sunday School....They don=t need D.T.
They can live without Prayer Meeting...
Revival is just a waste of time....because they are already sooooo spiritual.
They are deepers....at least they think they are.
We have traded our Weepers for Deepers but deepers can=t be reapers in the Kingdom of God.
C. We have traded our Weepers for Sleepers
Those are the ones who come into church and if they don=t go to sleep, they plan out next year=s vacation.
They plan out their afternoon.
Their minds are just about anywhere else but the worship services.
We have traded our Weepers for Sleepers but Sleepers can=t be Reapers in the Kingdom of God.
D. We have traded our Weepers for Creepers
Creepers are those who are so bound by tradition.
Their famous words, AWhy we never done it that way before.@
They would rather see their church stay the same and not grow.
Hey this was my AMama=s church@
They just want the church to creep along.
We have traded our weepers for creepers but creepers can=t be reapers in the Kingdom of God.
E. We have traded our Weepers for Peepers
They are the observers in the bunch.
They come in and they watch the choir.
And they watch the special.
And they watch the preacher
And they watch the watch near 12
And then they go out and watch people go to hell each and every day.
We have traded our weepers for peepers but peepers can=t be reapers in the Kingdom of God.
F. We have traded our Weepers for Keepers
Keepers are those who have their hands on the budget.
They are not going to spend a dime unless it benefits them.
They grumble when the youth needs a few more dollars.
They grumble when the church has to spend some money for ministry.
We have traded our Weepers for Keepers but Keepers can=t be Reapers in the Kingdom of God.
Do you see where I=m coming to.
We have Beepers, Deepers, Sleepers, Peepers, and Keepers.
We have a lot of people doing a lot of things.
But where are the Weepers?
Where are the tears?
I=m not nieve enough to think that everyone in here are Weepers.
Sometimes I=m not.
Sometimes I=m a Beeper, Deeper,
I=ve been known to be a sleeper, peeper, and a keeper.
What do you do when you know your not a weeper.
I believe you need to go back to Philippians 2 and read what having the mind of Christ is all about.
It is all about a Savior who was slain for my sins.
It is all about the seriousness of my sins.
Calvary shows us just how serious sin is.
Friend, this morning will you go with me to Calvary.
Will you look upon the face of the one who is dying on that tree.
His name is Jesus.
He doesn=t deserve what He is getting.
But He is dying because you sinned.
He is going to breath his last breath because of your rottenness.
Now realize the forgiveness of those sins.
Now see the life that the Savior has put inside of you.
You once was dead...now you are alive.
You once was blind...now you see.
Look at this community out here.
There are those who don=t know that forgiveness.
They have never tasted that life.
Does that bother you?
(Psa 126:6 KJV) He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
You go forth and be reminded of this.
You see it is this that causes me to not want to be a deeper, peeper, or whatever.
It causes me to weep.
It causes me to wake up in the morning and want to make a difference.
It breaks my heart.
Where are the Weepers.
Fred and Hazel Corr were in their seventies when I first met them.
I looked up one Sunday morning at Springfield Baptist Church and their set this little couple in their seventies.
I went and greeted them and found that the reason that they came was because a few in our church had the vision enough to have a soup cooking.
They invited all of the people in the community churched and unchurched.
Fred and Hazel came.
To find out...they were lonely people.
And they were invited to church the next day.
They came.
At the end of the service they asked me to come to their house.
I did and that night Fred Corr accepted Christ as His Savior and Lord
Hazel having already been saved came with Him the next Sunday to make a profession of Faith.
I baptized them both...in their seventies.
A few months later I received word that Fred had had a stroke.
I rushed to the hospital room.
All Fred wanted to talk about was tithing...he barely could speak.
A few days later Fred passed away...Three months after his Baptism.
That happened because somebody cared enough to stop and invite.
They cared enough to give Fred and Hazel a little of their time.
It wasn’t me.
Oh, I wished it was.
But it wasn=t.
And I think that this world if full of Fred and Hazel=s.
Will you weep for them?
