March 6, 2011
Morning Worship
Text: Philippians 2:1-11
Subject: The Body of Christ
Title: This Is What We Were Meant To Be
I did a sermon series here back in 2003 about Looking for the Perfect Church. The first sermon in the series was about how Jonah heard the word of God and ran from it because he didn’t think that the Ninevites deserved to hear the word of God and have the opportunity to be saved. He thought he knew what the perfect church would look like. Do we know what the perfect church will look like? Well, we can if we look at the church that is in heaven with the Lord. Revelation 19 Tells us that the perfect church worships God for His very nature (verse 1), is the bride of Christ made clean by His blood (verse 7), recognizes His words as true (verse 9), and follows Him into battle (verse 14).
Now, we are somewhere in between Jonah and the eternal kingdom of God, and we are not perfect yet, but the Lord has told us throughout the NT what kind of church He wants us to be. Someone once said, “There are four main bones in every organization (including the church). The wish-bones: Wishing somebody would do something about the problem. The jaw-bones: Doing all the talking but very little else. The knuckle-bones: Those who knock everything. The back-bones: Those who carry the brunt of the load and do most of the work.
Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 16-17.
Now, before we really get into our passage today I want to remind you that Jesus said the He was the one who would build His church. And He is doing through a people that are empowered by His Spirit and who are willing to each do their part for the kingdom. In this church there is a body, each of whom are called to be witnesses to the grace of God. There are deacons who are called to oversee the day-to-day operations of the church – these are men filled with the Holy Spirit and of good report that you have chosen to that position – and there is a pastor who is supposed to devote himself to prayer and to the word so that he can as Ephesians 4 says, “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Each one of us in our individual roles must continually be sensitive to the Spirit in order to be effective in our calling.
Our passage in Philippians 2 today helps us to understand that everyone in the church must be unified in purpose in order to be the true church of Jesus Christ. No personal agendas. No unbiblical thinking. Nothing but Jesus Christ and His word for us.
We can be the Unified church of Jesus Christ if we look at these four things;
1. Unity comes from understanding the benefits from being connected to a church.
2. Unity comes from being obedient to the commands given the church.
3. Unity comes from having right attitudes in the church.
4. Unity comes from being in agreement with God about the church.
Lord, open the eyes of our understanding that we may be the church You have called us to be.
I. UNITY COMES FROM UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF BEING WITH A CHURCH… Look at verse 1 with me. Can you see the things that are listed there that come from being connected to the body of Christ? 1) encouragement… United with Christ – being in Him… The gift of encouragement or exhortation is one of the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. However, you do not have to have the gift of encouragement in order to be an encourager. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone… What do you think God wants us to do? Forty thousand fans were on hand in the Oakland stadium when Rickey Henderson tied Lou Brock’s career stolen base record. According to USA Today Lou, who had left baseball in 1979, had followed Henderson’s career and was excited about his success. Realizing that Rickey would set a new record, Brock said, "I’ll be there. Do you think I’m going to miss it now? Rickey did in 12 years what took me 19. He’s amazing." The real success stories in life are with people who can rejoice in the successes of others. What Lou Brock did in cheering on Rickey Henderson should be a way of life in the family of God. Few circumstances give us a better opportunity to exhibit God’s grace than when someone succeeds and surpasses us in an area of our own strength and reputation. Our Daily Bread, June 19, 1994. 2) Comfort – Who is it that dwells in believers? It’s the Holy Spirit – the Comforter. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 3) Fellowship…with the Spirit. The word “fellowship” is the Gr. Koininia and it means “partnership” or “participation”. If we have a partnership with the Spirit shouldn’t that same fellowship be extended to others who have the same Spirit? Fellowship in the N.T. basically means sharing and self-sacrifice with other believers. J.R. McRay has written, "Fellowship in the early church was not based on uniformity of thought and practice, except where limits of immorality or rejection of the confession of Christ were involved." 4) Tenderness… This is not just a feeling you have but it is an action that you do. It is your choice. 5) Compassion… Many times in the gospels we read the statement, “and Jesus was moved with compassion…” Paul uses this term four times: (1) to describe God’s character and (2) to describe how Christians ought to treat each other. God desires to produce His character (image) in His children. The restoration of God’s image lost in the Fall is the purpose of Jesus’ coming.
II. UNITY COMES FROM BEING OBEDIENT TO THE COMMANDS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH… Paul’s next thought continues with the “if – then” logic that we often see in his writings. If you have received these benefits… 2 then make my joy complete… Paul’s concern for the church is that nothing would ever be done out of a selfish motive. then make my joy complete by being like-minded… Beware of individualistic religion. Christianity is a family experience. Paul’s guidelines are crucial, not only for Philippi in the first century, but for the Church of every age. The four principles are: 1) having the same love, 2) being one in spirit and purpose. 3) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4) 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Humility was not a sought-after virtue in the Greco-Roman world, but Christ made it a unique aspect of His own life and called on His followers to emulate it in their Christian lives. We must understand that the recipients of this letter were Gentiles. The church in Philippi would have been influenced by the culture of the day and the prevailing attitudes about the nature of man. So considering others as better than yourself would be foreign to them. Now look at the connecting sentence that Paul inserts here. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Verse 5 defines the nature of the characteristics that Paul was speaking of before by connecting them to the character of Jesus Himself. The goal of Christianity is thinking and acting like Christ.
III. UNITY COMES FROM HAVING THE RIGHT ATTITUDES IN THE CHURCH. Notice that I didn’t say “having the right attitudes in church” but in the church. If you are in Christ then these attitudes should be yours. 1) Know who you are in Christ, 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped… Jesus knew perfectly well who He was. He didn’t have to pretend to be God. He is God. John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2) Be A Servant 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness… it is easy for us to read this passage admire Jesus from a distance. No doubt God wanted us to be impressed with the servant nature of Christ. However simply to admire Jesus without striving to be like Him is not Christianity. 3) Humble Yourself 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Paul addresses the mindset of Jews and Gentiles here. For the Greek it would make no sense for God to become man, and even less sense for Him to die. And for the Jew, their God would never die a shameful death on a cross. The cross was a symbol of a curse. Galatians 3:13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” But that death on a cross shows that there is no limit to what God would do in order to save.
IV. UNITY COMES FROM BEING IN AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name… Because of the humility of Christ, God has exalted Him….” Remember now, we are talking about having the same attitude that Christ had. 1 Peter 5:5, All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble… Verse 10 … that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth… One day everyone will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. The only question is whether they will do it in time by faith, and thereby become a part of the family of God, or do it on the Day of the Lord and be judged by Him. The parallel phrases in this verse refer to angels, both free and bound, and humans, both living and dead. All conscious creatures shall acknowledge Jesus’ Lordship, but only humans can be redeemed. …11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. When does every knee bow? When does every tongue confess? Is it just at the end of time? No, it is for this life also. I want you to see something though in Acts 19. Saying the name of Jesus is not some magic formula. 13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” If you are trying to use the name of Jesus without having the authority of Jesus nothing will happen. But if you are in agreement with God… If you believe that Jesus has given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy… Then when you speak the name of Jesus demonic activity comes to a halt, at least for a moment. Can you imagine what happens when a unified church stands in the authority of Christ against the enemy?
In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"Which channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?"
As we prepare for communion let’s turn over to John 17. 6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours… 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
The communion of believers in fellowship with one another and in agreement with God is the church that Jesus is building.
