Here's the problem today: Too many Christians love themselves, and they act like it. Too few love the body of Christ by demonstrating that they act like it. But, the body of Christ is Who God loves.
Am I One in Mind, Love, Spirit, and Purpose with My Body?
Philippians 2:1-11a
Please turn to Philippians 2:1-2. As you are turning there I want to point out something that most of us here are familiar with. It has hurt us. It hurts others. It hurts the body of Christ. It is bad. I'm talking about divisiveness and disunity. Divisiveness and disunity seems to be everywhere. Families are falling apart because of divisiveness and disunity. Divorce rates are high because of it. Spouses and children quit talking to each other because of it. If they do talk to each other, the comments are snide, smart alec, and hateful. Children and parents are severed from each other emotionally and physically. They might be avoiding each other. They may misunderstand each other. They may be divorced away from each other in heart, if not in geographic location. The point is that all of it reflects the fracturing effects of being disunited. Even Governments are disunited, and their countries reflect its fracturing effects. Our own country is this way. Conservatives are no longer conservatives. We are not aligned with each other. Freedom is no longer freedom. Unity in politics is a naive dream. Business's are also being debilitated by disunity. They can't seem to keep it together in a consistent way. Management blames lower-level employees for their problems. Lower level employees blame management. Sometimes everyone blames the whole company, or the owner. Problems are always being pointed out because everyone seems to be a self made master critic. People everywhere think they are skilled experts in the art of fault finding. The real problem is disunity. And the critic is right there in the middle of the problem, because they are part of the problem. Christian marriages are not immune to the deep infecting compound fracture of disunity. Divorces among God's children are occurring at staggering rates. Church divorcing is the same; people come to church, and then go away from church, like they choose a discount store. Much of the time, they are only there for the sale items ...
Give me the specials, and it better be really special because I'm a picky customer and I am not very easy to please.
Christians were never meant to be customers on a shopping trip when we fellowship with the saints in Biblical fellowship. We are meant to commit to a body. But, the dissatisfied attitude has become more common than godly commitment. The great mountain of the virtue of loyalty, and real godly unity in authentic oneness is eroding away into a desert wasteland. To truly be members of one another in the body of Christ means we stand together till the end--till death do us part. We talk to one another. We reach out to one another. We stay with one another in health, but also in sickness, in riches, but also in poverty; in good times and bad times, so help us God. Yes, we become "real" friends with one another. But, as soon as the sale is over, or the service is not perfect, and the special loses its specialness, or there is a bigger prettier department store to shop in, then out the revolving door modern Christians run by droves all over our divided land. Divisiveness is common, and it is commonplace in the church. Sadly, it seems that God's refuge of love (that He created) has become the very entity that is trying its hardest to outdo all the others in being disunited. In local congregations, division and strife exists that rivals any daytime soap-opera. If we turn the cameras on our shame, (and it is shame) our factionizing dramas would be Hollywood award winning tales. Complaining and gossip--they are destroyers. Personality conflict, envy, and strife, is destroying ourselves and everyone else. Instead of having praises sitting on their lips, and scriptures bubbling out of the fountains of their hearts, the common line is,
I've been hurt.
He hurt her.
She hurt him.
I'm going to avoid them.
I'm so sick and tired of people.
I'm so sick and tired of church.
And yet, as we are saying this, someone else is more than likely saying this about us too. But these are not the things God is saying. Yet, this is how it works with the deadly disease of disunity. Unfortunately, this is not something new. Paul the apostle constantly had to deal with divisiveness among Christians. Paul addresses this subject in his epistle to the Philippians. Please read along with me now in our passage this morning. Paul urges the saints with the remedy to this malady of the body of Christ. Paul says,
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude [or mind] in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:1-11
This morning we are going to focus upon verses 1 & 2. Let's prepare our hearts to learn from God's word this morning in this sermon titled,
Am I One in Mind, Love, Spirit, and Purpose with My Body?
[pray]
As we come into our passage under study this morning, we notice that Paul starts out this section to the Philippian body with.
"Therefore ..."
Paul is pointing back to what he just said. Paul just gave a strong urging to be walking the worthy walk. It is to be conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the good news of Christ. The body needs to be standing firm in one spirit. Oneness is always a huge aspect of Christianity. It is what God wants out of us. Your oneness, and my oneness, with the body is part of our worthy walk in Christ. Paul knows this. We need to know this. The Philippians need to know this. So, Paul explains that Christians should be striving together with one mind. When we think of this kind of unity, we should think of togetherness. Even persecution should not alarm the Christians because just as faith has been granted to all of God's children as a gift, so has suffering. It is all part of the faith of the gospel, and we are all in it together. Paul is experiencing the suffering. The Philippians experience it in their own ways. We experience it in our own ways too. It is part of our togetherness in the bond of Christ. So this is what the word therefore points back to.
So when we look at this, we must understand that Paul is urging the Philippians as God's children, and we know that being God's children makes us special. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. Nevertheless, the Philippian Christians, (like all Christians) are people. So, as people who are brought together with other people, they had some unity issues to work through with other people. All the Philippians were not standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together in purposed unity. In 4:2 we find Paul urging them to live in harmony. This shows us two things. It shows us that disharmony can creep in among the body. It also shows us that God rebukes it, because He hates it. Disharmony and double mindedness is a crippler of God's children, and God's church. The body belongs to Him--not us. So we don't do with the church what we want to do with it. We do with it what God wants to do, and what He wants to do is unite us in the bond of Christ's love. So, we absolutely must realize how important unity really is to God. In our day of segmented spirituality, (with all our denominations, and all our various church movements, and all the maverick Christians out there who are relentlessly criticizing the church, or the way the church functions, or dividing over all the doctrinal areas that have nothing to do with salvation) sadly, disunity has become a dictionary description of the body in our day. It is truly pathetic that when one describes the church of our generation, that instead of a list of glowing terms that describe our virtues, disunity looms there as an incessant blemish that taints us. But what is important for us to understand (as the Holy Spirit is ministering to us from His word) is that even though the Philippians had all their virtues as a church in their age, and they were even known to be one of the most giving churches around, they also had this marring stain of disunity in their midst. It is with these things in mind that Paul lists 5 essential qualities for being united together in the bond of Christ's love. They are qualities that Christians already possess. It is upon these 5 things that Paul encourages the Philippians to practice the body-unity that is already theirs individually in Christ. Those things are also ours in Christ. As we work through them to grow in maturity in our own Christian walks, I want us all to notice something about the text. Notice how Paul uses the word "if" throughout the essential list. Paul says,
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, ..."
[which is comfort from love, and Paul also says,]
"... if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,"
Do you see how Paul uses "if" four times? The reason why I am pointing this out, is because in the Greek language, these are called first-class conditions. The question is,
What in the world is a first class condition?
All this means is that Paul is speaking of certainties. In other words, Paul is not saying if these things exist in Christians as if they may not exist. Paul is using the first class conditional Greek clause, meaning since in the sense of being true for the sake of argument. In other words, these things do exist in Christians. So, the word, if, here is better interpreted for our English speaking minds as since (not translated; but interpreted according to the rhetorical sense of assuming it to be true for the sake of argument). This is important because Paul is reminding the Philippians about the certainties of their heritage in the good news (the gospel). So when we look at it with this particular literary key in mind, we see that Paul wrote here about realities where he is stating a fact that he knows is true. He is saying to the Philippians that
"Therefore since [assuming it to be true for the sake of argument] there is any encouragement in Christ, since there is any consolation of love, ..."
[comfort from love]
... since there is any fellowship of the Spirit, since any affection and compassion,"
Paul is wanting complete joy in their comprehensive unity because this is what God designed the body to have. All these things that Paul listed: encouragement in Christ, comfort from love, fellowship of the Spirit, affection and compassion, are attributes of the Holy Spirit abiding in us. The Philippian Christians already have these seeds of the Spirit in them individually. All Christians everywhere are already expected to have these attributes of the Spirit, because we all have the Holy Spirit as our life. We have the doctrines and precepts of the faith of the good news to direct our minds. Encouragement in Christ, comforting one another, fellowshipping in our God, affection and compassion for those around us--love. These should be fruits of the Spirit that God reaps from us every day. And so, having these in our core as Christians, we should go on, and practice out the salvation that we already have. We should go on to nurture our sameness, and unitedness together, intent on one purpose instead of our own agenda. But our responsibility is that each of us must do these things. Nobody is going to do your duty for you. To help us along to do these things, we need to look at that first item that Paul expects us to have already,
"Therefore since [assuming it to be true for the sake of argument] there is any encouragement in Christ, ..."
Paul has already mentioned the suffering we go through. In the midst of our suffering, we know that there is encouragement in Christ. Encouragement here is also translated as comfort. The comfort is there in Christ because Christ is our all in all. So, Paul points to our comfort that matters. In contemporary culture, everything in the realm of encouragement and comfort is all about strategies, or psychology. It might be stroking our flesh with spending money, or taking a vacation. Even in business strategies for unity, success, and comfort, shrewd operators look for what is called the win win solution. It is unity based on everyone getting their fair share, and so everyone wins. Everyone supposedly feels comfortable. Comfort (according to the world) might also be part of a strategy for getting even by getting revenge. Comfort might be running away from the problem. But in the grand scheme, these are all band aids. What I mean is that they have a kind of superficial immediate kind of comforting effect, but it doesn't last. On the other hand, encouragement in suffering, to endure, and to stand fast as a Christian, is found in Christ. Paul is saying that our unique comforting encouragement as children of God can be found nowhere else but in our Lord. Jesus is not a band aide. He is the great Physician who is our life. Whenever we suffer, we know that He loves us so much that He gave His life for us in that love. Whenever we suffer, our comfort is in knowing that the suffering only lasts a little while, and then there is forever. We know that we will be with our loving Savior for eternity. Forever is so long that we can hardly describe it. Any description falls way too short. After we have been with our Lord for trillions of years, it is only a microsecond in the first fleeting moment of the endless sea of eternity. This is what the world does not understand about us. The world thinks that Christianity is simply another passing religion to make people feel good--Another band-aide. But, it is more. What we have is the real living relationship with the One true God, where the living Christ works in us to produce this encouraging, comforting, living fruit. In 2 Corinthians, Paul explains that the comfort doesn't come from some nebulous belief. It comes from God. Paul says,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
As children of God who are made alive by God in union with Christ, God has us here as the body of Christ where we have a unique relationship with Him. Through Christ we are comforted by God's Spirit, who is called the Comforter and Helper in John 15. It is through knowing Christ in the special way as our Savior, Brother, Friend, Lord, and King, that we are encouraged and comforted while in this lost, sick, hurtful, futile, dying world. The world is deceived and lost--not us. This is comfort. But it is comfort in the midst of the pain. In other words, the pain doesn't disappear. But, neither does our salvation and hope of glory. But it starts with trusting Christ by His grace through faith in Him in and what He's done, what He is doing each moment, and what He will do with our lives in the midst of it all. This is our comfort. This leads us to consider the next important attribute that we posses for standing firm in one spirit, in striving together with one mind for the doctrines and precepts of the faith;
"... since [assuming it to be true for the sake of argument] there is any consolation of love, ..."
Consolation of love, also translated as comfort from love, is terminology that literally means "to speak from love." Think about this; this is speaking that consoles, reassures, and relieves. Again, this consoling attribute is a fruit of the Spirit. Paul says that it is from love, and the love that we possess supernaturally is from Christ. It is by the Spirit of Christ that we speak forth love words that edify one another in comforting, reassuring, relieving, ministry of love. This is something that we really must understand because in our own selves, we do not naturally manifest this love aspect of God for the body. In 1 John 4 and 5, John tells us that God is love, and that those who are His true children love Him, and love one another. God gives us this love in our hearts, and so when we speak to one another in words of true love, it is Christ's love that is controlling us. But,
Who does it?
You.
Yes, you and I are the ones who have to do it. Again, I want us to look at 2 Corinthians. Paul is talking about the doing side of Christianity. Paul identifies the motivation, and the power. He also identifies the motivator and what the power actually is. Paul says,
"13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us ..." 2 Corinthians 5:13-14
It is not our love that controls us, but the love of Christ. Love is your mark as a Christian. It is the proof of your Christianity, 1 John 3, 4 and 5. It is what sets us apart from the darkness of this world. It is the substance of the royal law, James 2:8. It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22. It is the doing side of the law of Christ in Galatians 6:2. It is the fulfillment of the Law of Christ, Romans 13:10. It binds us together in that unity fruit that we desperately need to manifest in all pockets of our lives, Colossians 2:2. Love is the supernatural glue that holds the body together whenever we get angry. It is the glue that keeps the body together whenever we disagree. (Well, it is supposed to, and that is the point.) It is what keeps us together whenever the world is falling apart. The love of Christ, as Paul says, controls us, 2 Corinthians 5:14. If it is not controlling us, then we are in sin, and we need to quickly repent. Then Paul says,
"... since [assuming it to be true for the sake of argument] there is any fellowship of the Spirit,"
Fellowship is to share in commonality. Our commonality as saved people, is what we all share in. We share in what we are. We are the body of Christ. We all have God's Holy Spirit. We participate in the body of Christ in fellowship as the body of Christ. Now, I realize that the word fellowship is often associated with getting together with others. Christians will sometimes say that they are going to a fellowship, or going to have a fellowship. These are good, but what Paul is talking about here is different. Paul is talking about fellowship of something. This fellowship is of the Spirit because it originates from the Spirit. This fellowship itself is fruit produced by the Sprit. Further, it belongs to the Spirit (Gk. genitive of possession).. The reason why we have this fellowship of the Spirit is because God's Spirit is in us. This is you. This is me--But, it is God bringing us together. Paul says,
"But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. ... do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:17 & 19
There is a deep, deep relationship going on in our fellowship of the Spirit. Because we are joined to the Lord and are one spirit with Him, (and our bodies are temples of His holy Spirit,) we have constant fellowship with Him. Further, this fellowship that we have with Him is completely produced by Him. But it doesn't stop there. This is what joins us all together as One body of Christ temple. It is from this special fellowship with God that we are connected to one another already. But it is in obedience, and love, that we do our part where we connect to one another, and get into each other's lives as a church body. When we are doing this, all we are really doing is sharing the exact same fellowship of the Spirit with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Ultimately, it is by God's Spirit in us that we are able to find commonality at all, and are pressed to be united when we don't want to be, and single minded, and working together in our bond, which is Christ. But it is you who must do it. From there, Paul says,
"... since [assuming it to be true for the sake of argument] any affection and compassion, ..."
Like the other things that Paul lists, Paul knows that this affection is there in us. Again, it is affection that is Holy Spirit produced. We remember that Paul mentioned it in Himself a few verses before this. He just expressed his own longing as God's servant, saying,
"8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:8
This kind of affection that we Christians have for other Christians is the affection that Christ has for us. This is why we have it in the first place. Like Paul, and like the Philippians, our deep feelings in our family connection originate with our Lord to manifest out of us. In other words, it is the affection of Christ, but it is your affection because you are in Christ. Part of the definition of this word means that there is an inherent tenderness, and sensitivity that should be there in our relationship to the body of Christ. If it is missing, we are in sin. We are squelching Christ in us, and ignoring Him in others, and we need to repent. The compassion part is the same way. Whenever we think of this compassion word, we should be thinking of mercy, and being merciful, and folks, mercy is something we do as an action. Paul used the same Greek word that is used here for compassion in 2 Corinthians. Paul says,
"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies ...
[This is our word--mercy. It is the same Greek word for compassion. God is the Father of mercies, and Paul goes on saying,]
... and God of all comfort,"
Mercy and compassion are attributes of God. It is from these attributes that, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we absolutely must be showing grace to one another. We must be showing pity to one another. Mercy is what Christ has for each of us. It is why you are saved. It is why He holds you when you fail every day. He expects the same thing from us toward one another in all of our actions where we outwork the life of Christ, by doing His law of love.
These are the 5 essential qualities that Christians possess for being united together in the bond of Christ's love. Without these attributes of Christ, there can be no outworking them to bring the unity that God commands from us. But we are all Christians. So aren't we united in some way already? Yes we are. But to practice the unity that is already ours in Christ is something that we must do with the body. This is how the Philippian church will make Paul's joy more complete than what it already is. This is how we will be obedient to God's word. So, keeping this in mind, Paul goes on. We are pressed to practice the spiritual unity that should flow out of these 5 essential attributes. He says,
"make my joy complete by being of the same mind, ..."
There is a principle of like mindedness that is correct. But, people can be like minded in the flesh. They can be like minded in disunity. This is where everyone is mad at each other. They are like minded, but like minded in the flesh. Or it is where everyone thinks there is no such thing as called gifted ministers in the body that God uses as leaders. They'll say,
I don't believe in organized religion.
You know why? They want the body to be disorganized--dis-united. Or it is when people think that it is okay to be mavericks for Messiah. Or it is where people think that doctrine does not matter--even though to say doctrine doesn't matter is to make the statement itself as if it is a doctrine that matters. All these folks are united in one thing--disunity. There is even likemindedness in false doctrines. Let's ask,
So, what does Paul mean by being of the same mind?
Paul is talking about purposing together to think with the same patterns of thinking and conduct that have been revealed by Paul, Christ, and the rest of the Bible writers. This likemindedness flows from encouragement in Christ, loving comfort in Christ, spiritually based fellowship in Christ, tender affection in Christ, and compassionate mercy in Christ. It should flow. And really, all of this points right back to Christ, because all of this is His mind. In chapter 5, Paul says,
"5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,"
What is Christ's mind? In our context, Paul is saying that it is having a humble mind; a loving mind. It is to have lowliness of mind, esteeming others in the body as better than yourself. It is to be looking out for other people's interests and not merely your own. This is the mind that God wants us all to have. But, if we had to identify the biggest area of dis-unitedness, it would probably be in this area. Now think about this: If we start out thinking that each of the other members of the body is better than we are, then what has happened? We have already diminished most of the things that bring division in the church. So, we need to be of one mind, which is the way Christ thinks, and along with that, Paul says,
"make my joy complete ... maintaining the same love,"
Right here we are touching upon the fabric of all our Christian interaction. All of us should be maintaining the same love, which of course is the love of Christ. Actually, this is the premiere way to manifest Christlikeness anywhere, at anytime, and in any situation. We are to maintain the same love with one another. The world does not have this kind of love, because it hates the real Christ. People in the world may say that Christ was a great guy. They might say that He taught a lot of good things. Islamic people will even tell you that Jesus was a prophet. But none of these people will tell you that Jesus is the crucified and resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords Who is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, and that nobody gets to the Father except by Him. They will not tell you that Christ is God manifest in the flesh. The reason why the world will not say these things about the true Christ is because they hate Him. The world loves a fictional Christ that they have made in their own image. God's children are not truly loved by the world either. The world may be nice to Christians, but the world does not maintain the same love of Christ for Christians that we are supposed to maintain. We are urged to love one another by urging each other to love and good deeds. Are you doing it? What this means is that Christian love tells other Christians to quit sinning. Christian love tells other Christians to obey the Lord. Christian love tells you to quit breaking fellowship with the body. Christian love is the Holy Spirit using you to do these things for Himself. Are you doing it? We are urged (in Christian love) to maintain bearing one another's burdens even when we don't feel like it, thus fulfilling the law of Christ. If someone in the world doesn't feel like bearing another's burdens, then they won't do it, and they, in lack of God's love, just don't care. It might be because they despise the person. Or becasue it means nothing to them. Either way, it is not the love of Christ. But, You and I are urged to love one another, and expect nothing in return. The question is: Are you doing it? The world always wants something in return for its own love. It may be something invisible, like self satisfaction, but it is still something that the world gets for loving. The world's love is conditional love. God wants us to love unconditionally in Christlikeness. This is not passionate emotional affection love either. It is not like the dripping kind of stuff that oozes from movies, romance novels, and songs of culture. Paul is talking about commitment kind of love that is a command. He is not talking about an emotion. It is love that looks at others as being better than ourselves no matter what. It is self sacrificial love because it reflects Christ, Who is God, Who is love. This Christian love, which is our healing touch that brings restoration, unity, and oneness into the realm of reality, is the substance of everything that Paul has been urging us to do up to this point. In love we are fully grounded. In love, we are of the same mind. This, folks, is the worthy walk. And this is how we manifest the mind of Christ in our daily living, and out from ourselves for the whole world to see and experience. So, we need to be doing it. The world experiences Christ in us when we express the love of Christ out of us.
Earlier in this epistle, while in the uncomfortable burden of prison, Paul had another burden. It was motivated by the Spirit. Paul had the burden to pray that the love of the Philippians would abound and grow more and more. You can not get too much of it, and you can never give away too much of it. You can not run out of love, but you can run away from love when you are being carnal, fleshly. But God wants us to run to others and express love for them in real ways, over, and over, and over again. In fact, God wants us to try to do everything we can to expend all of our love upon others in self sacrificial encouragement in Christ, loving comfort in Christ, spiritually based fellowship in Christ, tender affection in Christ, and compassionate mercy in Christ. Because the more you try to spend it all, the more it will just keep on coming. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. It blossoms forth, and ripens, and then what happens?--other members of the body partake of its sweetness. Think about this for a moment; People sense the wrongness of hatred. They will despise it when it is directed at their own selves. But, on the other hand, no true child of God will despise a brother or sister for showing them the love of Christ that He demands, and commands. But we are the ones who have the responsibility to maintain this great love of Christ. It doesn't matter how angry we get. It doesn't matter how much we want to get even for being wronged. We must love. Love is a fresh spring that washes vengeance away into a sea of purity, forgiveness, healing and unity.
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Do we even realize that this describes Christ in us, coming out of us?
In the early years of the first generations of the church, Christians endured great suffering. Christians were hated, but they were also admired for the way they treated the body. There was a pagan Greek writer of the time, named Lucian. Lucian was so impacted by the love of Christians that he wrote,
"It is incredible to see the fervor with which the people of that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing."--Lucian
Ask yourself:
Does this describe the love that I am maintaining today in my own Christian walk?
Folks, all these things are classic Christianity that goes back to our roots in the body. Lucian said this love was incredible.
Is your love incredible in the eyes of others?
Let me ask it this way--
Is your God incredibly being manifested out of you to others?
Here's the problem today:
{Too many Christians love themselves, and they act like it. Too few love the body of Christ by demonstrating that they act like it. But, the body of Christ is Who God loves. But the body of Christ is Who God loves.}
Tertullian, who was a Christian leader of the church who lived at the same time as Lucian said,
"It is our care for the helpless, our practice of loving kindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. 'Look!' they say, 'how they love one another! Look at how they are prepared to die for one another.'"--Tertullian
The question, my dear friends, is whether Lucian and Tertullian are describing you. God is saying to me and to you--cultivate, nurture, continue, maintain the same love.
With this, Paul urges in like manner,
"make my joy complete ... united in spirit, [literally, one souled]
What does it mean to be one souled? The Greek word here, literally means to be souled with, or joined in soul. One way that this word has been translated is, being in one accord. One Bible scholar has said that an accurate meaning of this word is:
To be united in the life principle common to physical beings.
I think it is interesting to note that Paul (inspired by the Spirit) created this word. Paul was known to do this. He would just make up his own words if he couldn't find an adequate one. This word can not be found in Greek literature, nor in any other place in the Bible. From Paul's usage of the word, it is clear that he is urging all Christians to be harmonious in all their relations. This means that we should be harmonious in our Christian thinking processes, and actions. In other words, we need to be joyful, but we need to be joyful together. If someone hurts, then we all should share in the compassion of caring for that hurt. If someone is sorrowful, than we are supposed to be one souled with them, (which means we share in sympathizing with them) and in so doing, we seek to edify them by encouraging them, and praying for them. This is real world Christ likeness fleshed out the way God designed it all to exist. Think about this: Being one souled is like the harmonious relationship of all the different cells that make up a single organism. The church is the organism, you and I are cells. Each of us is different, but we are all in Christ. To function properly, we need to be of one accord. Our unity and love is so vital for us to function and think as the one new man of the body of Christ. This means that we can not be islands unto ourselves. We can not be free radicals inside the organism. At the molecular level, a free radical is a poison that contaminates the cells in an organism. Therefore what does it do? It contaminates the whole organism. It's a selfish poison. God does not want us to be cancer cells either. We are all Christians. Your design and mine is to be a healthy cell. Further, we are made to be a healthy cell, but a cell in, and among the body. A healthy cell is self sacrificially encouraging in Christ, is lovingly comforting to other people in Christ, is having spiritually based fellowship in Christ, is having tender affection in Christ, and is having compassionate mercy in Christ. So, to function properly together in all these things, we need to be one souled and start doing these things consistently. Keep this in mind, because Paul finally says,
"make my joy complete ... intent on one purpose.
Christ creates us and empowers us to be one souled based upon us being one soul with Him. We know that. So, when we get to our one purpose together, what this means at it's simplest level is that we are all to be thinking Jesus thoughts together. Jesus thinking is simply, thinking that is according to His word, because that is where we find His goals, instruction, and purpose for everything, spelled out for us. This is why doctrine matters. You are not going to be intent on the same purpose, if you have a false doctrine driving your purpose. There are essential doctrines for Christian living in the body. Those essentials should always be uniting us in one mind, and one purpose. Loving one another as Christ loves you, is truth. Being united is truth. Being students of our Lord is truth. Telling people about Christ is truth. All of these things are essentials of the faith. Our purpose is to proclaim these things, and live out these things. Being intent on one purpose is no mystery folks. Everything we think, and everything we do as Christians in the body from the body for the body is to be encouragement in Christ, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, tender affection, and compassion; and those things must be done from proper doctrine. In this way, when the world sees one of us, they see all of us. They are seeing Christ in us. The important questions that we all need to be asking ourselves this morning is;
Have I been seeking unity in the bond of Christ according to God's word, which is right doctrine?
When I get offended, do I hold a grudge?;
or do I forgive?
Do I gossip?;
or do I praise?
Does my tongue cut people and leaving deep hurting wounds?;
or is my tongue a healer?
Am I a critic?;
or am I an encourager?
Do I criticize other peoples methods, ideas, and personalities?;
or do I help out?
Do I avoid the body, or am I being the body for the body?
It all boils down to whether I am living according to right doctrine. We need to seriously and soberly ask ourselves,
Am I stuck on myself?;
or am I stuck on the united purpose of the body?
What does the body mean in my life bibilcally?
What do I mean to the body biblically?
Your answers should be based upon God's word--not what you feel. The answers to these questions will reveal whether we are people who disunite the bond of Christ in our own selfish purposes.
We need to absorb all the right doctrine we have covered this morning into our souls. I urge you to realize the power of what you (one person--one cell) are in the body. Because you have encouragement in Christ, you are able to, and should, encourage me and all those around you here; because you have comfort of love, you can and should comfort each of us with love; because you have fellowship of the Spirit, you can and should fellowship with us; because you have tenderness and compassion, you can and must show the tenderness and compassion of Christ to us. Do all you can to be like minded with the Christians that God brings into your life. Make sure you are trying to be like minded based on God's word. But do all of this with grace--maintain the same love to all Christians around you, no matter who they are. Seek to be one in soul and purpose by looking past the faults of others, to your Christ Who lives in others. This is what we must do. I leave us with verse 3 as a kind of doxology this morning:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.
--amen.
