Hi, I'm used to the East Lake Buenos dias. Good morning and welcome again to our morning service today Again, I feel like it's just weird as we continue planning and For the services and preaching in an empty room I'm glad to have pastor Danny and pastor Gustavo. I joined it means that's they're gonna be my my audience today But it's still awkward and I'm sure you feel the same way sitting in the comfort of your living room or standing Around in your in your house as you participate in our worship service and hear the word of God But I do hope that and I know that the spirit of God is at work in your life in my life. I know The God's word does not return void and so even as we consider his word this morning in these circumstances I pray that the Lord would bless us all together and that we would sense his presence in our midst Last week we looked at the the last few verses of chapters one of the book of Philippians and this morning We're gonna continue with our series or short series in this short letter The Paul writes the church in Philippi. We begin in chapter two this morning and we'll be reading Chapter two verses one three eleven. I will read a little later in English, but I'm gonna allow my sister Eunice to read in Spanish Hermanus the picture is encuentres a mañana in philippines is do's teluno alonze philippines is do's teluno alonze in the word of the Lord. He says so Portanto si tiene alguno estímulo en su unión con Christo Algo un consuelo en su amor algún compañerismo en el espíritu Alguna efecto entrañable Gene me de alegría teniendo un mismo parecer un mismo amor unidos en alma y pensamiento No hagan nada por egoismo o vanidad más bien con humildad Consideres a los demás como superiores a ustedes y mismos cada uno debe bailar no solo por sus propios intereses No también por los intereses de los demás la actitud y ustedes debe ser como la de Cristo Jesús Que siendo por naturaleza dios no considero el ser igual a Dios como algo a qué aferrarse por el contrario Se rebajó y voluntariamente tomando la naturaleza de ciervo y así lo se semejante a los seres humanos y Manifestarse como hombre se humilló a sí mismo y se hizo pediente hasta la muerte y muerte de cruz y por eso Dios Lexaltó hasta lo sumo y lo torgó el nombre que está sobre todo nombre para que ante el nombre de Jesús Se doble toda rodilla en el cielo y en la tierra y debajo de la tierra y toda lengua confiese que Jesucristo es el Señor Para gloria de Dios padre Amen Again brothers and sisters join me as we consider God's word from Philippians chapter 2 Verses 1 311 here now the reading of God's holy in errant and inspired word Paul writes he says 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 man 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 time can fast that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father This is the word of God. Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Holy Spirit, we come to you this day that you've given to us as we consider your word Knowing so well that we are hard to hear And so we ask of you Would you give us ears to hear eyes to see you and a heart? To believe in what you are speaking to us this morning Transform our lives Buy your word that is alive and at work in us today. We pray in Jesus name Amen The spirit of Chattanooga will guide To natal recovery The spirit of Chattanooga will guide to natal recovery those were the words There were on the the headlines on times free magazine online on Monday after a tornado hit our neighborhood I was captured by those words the spirit of Chattanooga because we just moved in so I do not know what the spirit of Chattanooga is all about And so my curiosity wanting to find out what the spirit of Chattanooga is all about Let me to reading this whole article and in this article I read stories of neighbors of friends and even outsiders Coming together to help one another after the tornado. They the people are bringing meals people were Coming to pray for one another people were offering more of support for their neighbors for outsiders Not to mention that many of these volunteers and helpers were in fact Victims all the same tornado that somehow they had set aside their own needs Cleaning up their own messes at home in order to help their neighbors and friends in fact one official put it this way I mean the officials were actually talking about how they were overwhelmed by the amount of people volunteers They were coming together and wanting to help and he said quote Helpers and volunteers will become the backbone of recovery and quote You see what these helpers and volunteers displayed on Monday and continue to do so is a unity of purpose a Crisis had brought together a community a crisis had brought a community together crises have a way of bringing people together don't they and you know, I don't think it's just the It's just the spirit of Chattanooga that has been going on doing this time I've also felt the spirit of News to the East Lake if you will since COVID-19 hit I mean, I think of what the act in it and how they have been working tirelessly every single day Trying to meet the needs of our community. I'm trying to meet the needs of those in our church that have been Adversely affected by this virus. I think of our session reaching out to to people in our church and praying for them and asking about how so and so is doing I think about all of you I Think about all of you who have been so generous in contributing towards the needs of those in our community that have been affected Making sure that no one is gonna go hungry. No one is gonna not gonna have light and heat in their homes We have been united in caring for each other. We have been united in caring for one another because a crisis has brought all of us together Now all those things are true, right and maybe you may be wondering even after we've read these verses What does that have to do with church unity as Paul is talking in chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 again? While those things may be true I truly believe that we should not neglect Paul's words to us this morning Paul is writing to a healthy church in Fillify a church that he dearly loved he actually calls them his crown and joy But Paul knows that even in a healthy church There are dissensions. It is why we always must be watchful why we must always guard Against division because even in terms in times of crisis when unity seems to come so easily This unity can happen They can be dissensions in fact. I would say that You know petty fights and trivial things can easily come up during Times of crises and these things as someone has put a contender or witness as a church And we don't want that to happen and so Paul is wanting the church is wanting us that if we want to endure the suffering that Comes from outside of the church if we want to heal Divisions that could happen from inside the church. We must be willing to cultivate an attitude of humility in essence Paul is telling us this our take home right genuine unity is only possible where true humility happens Genuine unity is only possible where there is truly whether it's true humility look at verses 1 through 4 With me and see Paul motivating us to seek unity. How does Paul Motivate us to seek unity in verses 1 through 4 We saw again as Pastor Danny preached last week This win-win situation for Paul and Danny was able to point us to Paul's confidence in Jesus Christ And that's what allows Paul to say and to declare boldly that to live is Christ and to die is gained in Philippians 121, you know, I've often wondered what do you do with such a man? What do you do with such a person who has such an attitude of you kill me? I'm good. You let me live. I'm good. What do you do with them? He's untouchable invincible, right? And then we read in in verses 27 through 30 Paul speaking of only let you manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ So that whether I come and see you or my absent I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit What is this life worthy of the gospel that Paul is speaking of now? He's explaining to us in chapters 2 This is the life worthy of the gospel and to give it away to you the life worthy of the gospel is a life of unity That's what Paul tells us in fact one coming to the puts it this way he says unity is not just a useful weapon against the world But rather it belongs to the very essence of Christian life For it is the way in which Christians display outwardly what the gospel is and means to them in fact He says unity is the gospel's hallmark It says to all who who examine it this life is worthy of the gospel and quote isn't it odd for us to think about Paul making this plea to the church to be united when Paul is in House of rest with chains and everything else uncertain future uncomfortable And you know just everything that you can imagine up and Paul says if you want to complete my joy then seek unity Paul is more concerned about the unity of the church that he's concerned about his own welfare He wanted to hear that the church is doing well that they are united this church that's dear to him They can complete his joy by being united. Why is that important to Paul? Because unity is crucial in times of war in times of suffering and what a better time for us to be reminded of how much we need to be united in The church as we battle coronavirus But ultimately we seek unity because of our relationship with Jesus Christ And as the fall is saying if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ if you are in Christ if you know who Jesus is Then you must seek unity. So Paul motivates the church to seek unity In these or we can sum it up in in these four ifs if you will four ifs four things that are true about every Christian and these things lay If you will the factual foundation on which life of unity is raised up They are as as boys puts in there the solid for the first solid leg so to speak the first solid legs on which Christian unity stands They are now possibilities. Paul is not saying it may be you know We'll see how this works out. Maybe this will lead you to you know They are for realities and the basis for us being united So really quickly because we're not going to spend a whole lot of time in this for ifs We're going to summarize them together But let's look at the first one in in verses one. He says so if there's any encouragement in Christ verse one How does Jesus then encourage us to be unified in the church? You may want to Jesus gives us support to live in unity with one another remember Jesus prayed John chapter 17 He prays that father I pray that they may be one as you and I are one I mean what a beautiful picture of Jesus encouraging us to seek unity to be one this Twenty-ten aspect of that's what we're supposed to be looking at in terms of thinking about unity the second thing He says is if there is any conflict from love where if you will here's an incentive of love and I mean truth is we are hard to get along with right but we have a duty to see more than our brothers faults and shortcomings That's not what we're called to see we're all broken people We're called to see others as image bearers and to love them in the manner that Christ Jesus loves us I love that is patterned on God's love for us And isn't that beautiful for us to love as Jesus loves us Certainly he says if there is any participation in the spirit or if there is any Christian fellowship and and the way for us to think about fellowship is not a man-centered fellowship Which says I choose to hang out with Pastor Gustavo because he's a cool dude and I like him and we have a few things in common No, this is a fellowship that is created by God A fellowship which exists not because we have certain things in common with one another but because we have been made Mutually dependents members of Christ's body But God has made us in such a way that we're mutually dependent on one another and because we have a relationship with Jesus We embrace each other first John One three and finally the fourth thing is if there is any affection and sympathy or put another way Mercy of compassion, huh? Yeah mercy of compassion if we have experienced the tenderness of God towards us The though we deserve death God has given us eternal life that we have received God's grace and therefore must extend the same grace that we receive from Christ to others even Even when they offend us even when they have a different opinion than we do even when they have a different Theological leaning than we do. Yes. We are supposed to extend grace towards them in summary Paul is saying Friends if you are in Christ, if you know the love of God Then we cannot live any other way than having fellowship with one another. That's what Paul is selling us Are you in Christ? Have you experienced the love of God and the hint and his mercy towards you? Then there's no any other way you can live other than living in fellowship with one another these if clauses Are in in a sense assuring us that God is binding us together with cords of life That if we've experienced the deep deep love of God through his son if God has given poured out his spirit to the church Which is our inheritance which we all share as brothers and sisters in Christ if we have been touched by Christ tenderness How can we not seek to love? How can we not seek to care and to share with one another? How can we not tear down the walls that divide us and be reunited in love? If the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of reconciliation We cannot declare that message on one hand and not seek to be reconciled with one another. That's what Paul is saying
This unity therefore is a byproduct of the gospel. Yes, but it doesn't come automatically That's what Paul is saying. You must work hard. You must work hard And effortlessly It is something that we deliberately deliberately cultivate and work on every day He says be of one mind. He says complete my verb at being of the same mind having the same love in verses two being in full accord and of one mind meaning Being of one mind He's saying sets your mind on the same thing or on one thing does that mean We're all supposed to think the same way There were supposed to have the same opinion about how we need to do church and how we need to do Music and all these other things that that that divide us now Paul is saying these this is what these are this has to do with practical consequences of doing life together Doing life with one another as believers. It is having the same purpose It is having the same God is having the same go witches the gospel of Jesus Christ set your mind on Christ And not on other things that may bring this unity among you It's a unity of love a unity of a core not simply loving the same things He's calling his friends to seek the same goal to be like a minded to have one soul That's the Greek language. They have one soul You know even close friends Can have a fragile relationship because our friendships can be Easily divided by pride and selfishness and preoccupation with the self with personal interest Those are the things that come against us The one mind in this begins Paul says with an attitude of with an inner attitude right and he says Count others more significant than yourself. That's all we need to start right not being conceited It is only when we see ourselves for what we really are not within the exaggeration of who we really are That conceit and vain glory will recede and then we begin to count others more significant than ourselves The truth is as Paul says in verses four let each of you the truth is the responsibility for unity lies within the individual you and I Have a job to do We have something to do that the unity does not depend in in a corporate kind of a sense it when it begins with me it begins with you Now again, I think we need to be careful here To realize that Paul is not saying that we cannot have differences That you may want to paint or sanctuary pink and I prefer white that's okay Paul is saying we need to be selfless Paul is saying that we need to put others needs I heard of ourselves that our our own common commitments a world to love as Christ loves is what is going to restore unity in a divided body Does it what it means to have the same love Being selfless Paul is imploring us to call to that unity because our natural bent is not to be unified It's not to be selfless our natural events is to be self centered. It is to be prideful I mean it's difficult for me for all of us to humble ourselves even in the most important relationships in our lives It's hard for me to humble myself before my own spouse my own children See the obstacle to unity friends is not a difference in opinion We tend to think that because I think differently then that's that's the problem right there But the problem the obstacle to a unity lies in our pride It is because of pride it is because we tend to focus and show attention only to ourselves and Paul wants us to be as I said one soul Working together, you know, I read a story about a Dallas church. I'm told this story is true Oh a church that had a huge this unity a huge conflict and so that I'm not gonna, you know Boy you with a with a long version of the story, but I'm gonna give you the short of it The story goes that the church was so split that the two groups took each other to court like a legal court And when they got there they found a really good judge. It was a wise man I would say who told them to go back to and A court of the church and resolve their differences out there And so when they went back to the church's court They decided to do an investigation to find out what really happened that split this church into two factions and guess what They did the investigation and found out that the reason why there were two factions and they had a At this unity going on was because one elder during a gathering a fellowship of the community was so hurt and Broken that the little girl that was sitting next to him was offered a bigger slice of a pie than he got And he couldn't believe that a church member would serve a smaller slice of the pie To of all people and elder of the church Lord have mercy on us if those are the differences That divide us and Paul is saying we can overcome divisions only by taking a common yoke And pulling together in the same direction But when we're preoccupied with our personal agenda We're gonna pull in different directions and split the church instead We should focus on one thing that united us and the one thing that united us as a church is Christ himself You know, I grew up in a farm and I watch cows would put you know two bulls and put a yoke on them And that's how we would plow and cultivate the land And I would watch two cows that did not agree with each other and one would want to go right and the other wants to go left It would hurt them. It would be difficult. You can't do anything You they would have to cooperate they would have to work together and pull in one direction That's what Paul is saying That when one of us pulls this one the other pulls the other way we hurt the church when we don't seek unity We hurt the church That's what Paul is talking about And as long as we think that what matters most in life is self fulfillment and self advancement We will never experience this gospel-centered unity that Christ Is is is wanting of us when we seek our own glory and our own advantage We can never lift our gaze to a to higher things to seeing others to being concerned about others My own friends my own brothers and sisters become enemies they become competitors to be eliminated and not partners in the gospel We become what someone has called glory thieves people stealing glory from God grow the belongs to God So Paul is wanting us insane. We need to get rid of selfish ambitions To start being glory thieves to start being self-absorbed And seeking our own interests and possessions Paul is wanting us to build bridges not barriers that divide us And none of us would deny that you know With how we think of ourselves the order of how we think of ourselves is this me others and then God and the biblical order is the other way around it is God others and then me man. That's hard That's hard. I don't want to do that My my my feeling my own body my own perception about life guy. I don't want to do that I don't want to think about you know God first and others and then me. I'm gonna ask no. I don't want to be last. I want to be first But that's what we're called to do It's a hard thing to do and we can't do it on our own Really giving of ourselves to others to God and to others. That's what Jesus requires of us to have this attitude where we can feed the hungry and visit the sick and And care for the prisoners and Jesus says when we do all those things to the least of these we're doing it to Christ So that much must we do then in order to cultivate this humility and live for others I Think we need to begin by admitting our own pride right that our own on our own we cannot live for others But we're only focused on our self-interest and that admission must lead us to humble ourselves before God admitting Our own and more than this before God himself. I am unworthy And finally we must seek daily fellowship with him It is only when we stay close to the source of life that we will be able to realize the self-giving life That Christ advocates one come to the puts it without him We can do nothing And so pause advice here in regards To us laying down our lives is really what prepares him To portray the greatest example that we have on what humility looks like in verses five three eleven where He points us to have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who although he was in the form of God Do not count equality with God. I think to be but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man If you needed a manual For genuine attitude and a mindset for humility which builds the church There you have it It's not a 15 step. It's not a 20 step on how to achieve unity in the church Paul is saying the manual for unity in the church Is here for you to see it is Christ himself He's calling the church to shut their Christian community to reflect the self-humbling service of the Lord Gunday worship of Jesus Christ himself and I just want to think of moment in pause As pastor Danny was talking about mic drop phrases that Paul was able to drop in in chapter one end of it Here Paul has another mic drop moment in this in this verse that is giving to us where we pause to acknowledge that we Are entering a holy ground as we read from verses five and and and for a privilege Not to satisfy curiosity, but to inform our lives. What a glorious passage of Christ coming down from the heavens And then being exalted even to a higher place after his death on the cross And you know this is really a contrast between Jesus and his humility and Satan if you go back in in the book of Ezekiel and read What Satan being dropped from heaven and what he did that he desired to be the most high that's what Satan wanted to be And God declaring him that he would be sent down to hell What a contrast between Jesus and the angel Satan and that Christ humiliation is is really an example for us to be unified. It shows what true humility looks like He begins with this pre incarnate state of Jesus Christ. By the way, I wanted to know you will never be able to understand what that looked like I do not have no idea what that pre incarnate state looks like the form of God Paul says that Jesus was in the form of God incomprehensible And then the the author of Hebrew tells us in Hebrews one three that the Jesus he's he's not a mere reflector of God's glory But shines his own glory together with the father and the son man. What does that even look like the mystery of the Trinity And then Paul says he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped But rather so as a quality as qualifying him for humble descent to come and save us The for Christ this was not a matter of selfish giving Christ acted in the most humble ways by bearing the form over servant in the assuming our nature our own nature that he emptied himself in verse 7 And we need to remember that this does not mean that Jesus in any way I emptied himself or of all his attributes as God verse remain but but he revealed the form of God in the form of a slave and in human like this John Calvin is really helpful for us He says quote he couldn't divest himself of Godhead But he kept it concealed for a time He laid aside his glory in the view of man not only Not by listening it but by concealing it that Jesus becoming man concealed his glory his attributes of Godhead So that he would humble himself and become like us He did not exploit his status as God But he used it to serve and to be a slave he was humble Paul tells us even to death No one humble Jesus not Herod not pilots not the high priest not even the powerful Romans it was all his doing His self-immigration meant full obedience obedience to the cross the most Candlest death you could ever think of The most obscene and let's some experience In the Roman Empire that he was the most shameful and disgraceful death For he displayed the lowest depths of human depravity and cruelty being crucified Was one of the worst thing that could ever happen to you It was reserved for the worst criminals for for slaves and foreigners yet Jesus yet the son of God would stoop so there and go from the highest position imaginable To the lowest there there precisely because of the selfless love for us what humility As Wesley puts it in his hymn his mystery all The immortal dies the Christ redeemed us from the curse having become a curse for us This was the mind of Christ the Jesus would look upon himself and he would look upon his father and then look upon us and for His obedience sake and for sinners sake he held nothing back Can you imagine Can you imagine what it meant for the son of God to enter or miserable Lives in dark world. I mean suppose one of us was to be in the company of the most learned some criminals murderers and and rapists and child molesters and and being in that gross and horrible and dark place Yet to imagine that that's just a little glimpse of the misery upon which Christ enters In order to redeem us See our understanding and believing Christ humiliation and exaltation for us and the Father's glory is important for us because it means We understand that putting others ahead of ourselves is a sign that the gospel of Jesus Christ is well Among us otherwise Maybe the gospel of Jesus Christ hasn't taken root in our lives
The truth is the human desire is not to follow Christ's example What is your desire and my desire human desire is to dominate others, right? Our attachment to wealth and glamour and power and prestige and all those and the accepted ways of Achieving those ends often involves dominance of the others But the incarnation of Jesus Christ is the very antithesis of this attitude But the hallmark of our lives should be giving and not getting serving not being served obedience rather than dominance The roads to greatness is not through dominance. It is through serving others So we talk about Christian warfare all the time, right? But I think there's a war there's a battle there's a tension Going on in us every day internally in us Which says are we going to become the kind of people that God desires us to be? Are we going to live the worthy lack of the gospel that Christ desires for us People who love people who give themselves to others like Christ did we will not be able to become lovers of others on our own That's the truth But thanks be to God that if we yield to him He will make us more like him True humility Friends means this it means entering the messiness of others lives because that's what Jesus did Jesus entered the very mess the very brokenness of my own life of your life Jesus entered my life and served me great love and mercy and compassion And he wants me to do the same thing. He wants me to love like he loves It's not going to be perfect. I assure you But he wants me to pursue that he wants me to pursue unity with you with one another As the father and the son and the and the spirit are one he wants us to be one He wants us to cultivate a Christ-like Mindedness and serve to him. So if you Jesus will look we look to him to possess his mind May the mind of Christ or say to be ours as we seek to love one another to live with one other with one another We look to Jesus risen and reigning look to Jesus in his path of love from the throne to the cross from cross to the throne To the spirit in scribes that law upon our inn most will was bishop Henley more sat Look to Jesus He is the way You know I read one time St. Augustine the great theologian and philosopher was once asked the question St. Augustine could you please list for us the central principles of the Christian life and we responded three Three principles he said first humility second humility and third you guessed it humility Hmm that our union with Christ should lead to the imitation of Christ Consider what Christ-like humility means not standing on our so-called rights Sinclair Ferguson says but being willing to give them up for the sake of others I read a story a while ago about a symphony conductor That was asked the question what is the most difficult which is the most difficult instrument to play and without hesitation You responded the second violin he said I could easily find first violinist this one's that easy to find but the second He said I couldn't find a second violinist And he said That's a problem that's a big problem because without a second violin we have no harmony No harmony whatsoever and so he wrote and said it takes more grace Then I can tell To play second fiddle well It takes more grace than I can tell to play second fiddle well Friends may God grants us grace Grace upon grace to have the humility of Christ So that we may be able to play second fiddle and play it well Because the Church of Jesus Christ needs harmony Amen would you play pray with me heavenly Father? We are truly grateful to you how you demonstrate Your love for us how you've called us to be in you in Christ How you and the Father and the Spirit are one How you own humiliation and exaltation You laying down your life for us on our behalf ought to be An example for us to imitate Would you give us the grace Grace upon grace to have the humility To play second fiddle To disregard our rights But you will the work to remove our pride Our selfish ambitions our desire to Look just to our own needs and not to think of others And would you make us more Christlike? Would you help us to cultivate a spirit of true humility that only can come from you? We pray in Jesus name Amen