Oh, how was did you wasn't that great? That was so awesome. I mean I could hear incredible musicians, and expensive instruments. That was so good. Let's do it again. Come on, play it again for us so we can hear it. Just enjoy take it all in. [Video plays, orchestra tuning, video ends] Yes. Yes. Was it come on, give it up for that incredible orchestra. [Applause] Let me ask you a question: if you paid big bucks for a ticket to the orchestra and showed up on a Friday evening and heard that, how many people would want a refund? Now, you may not be a professional musician, but did you catch that there was something off about that, right? Let me try something that I think would be closer to what you and I would expect if we went to the orchestra on a Friday evening. Go ahead, let's play that. [Video plays, orchestra playing, video ends] [Applause] How about that. You know what's interesting to think about? The first rendition and the second rendition really only had one difference. In fact, the same instruments, the same musicians, the same concert hall, the same temperature in the room, the same people, the same day. Everything was the same. Do you know the only difference between the first rendition and the second rendition? That they were playing off the same sheet of music. It's amazing the difference that can make. Think about it for just a minute. The first rendition had all the same people, all the same instruments I mean expensive, all the potential in the world. But you and I both know that if you knew that's what you were going to get, nobody would go to that concert. Thank you, Steven Thornton; you're an give it up for Steven Thornton, right there. Because you don't have to be a genius to know when something's out of tune. You know, when I think about life, I think that oftentimes, in many different circumstances and may different ways, people invest themselves into something wanting to hear the sound of beautiful music, but at the end of the day, what they hear is chaos. I mean nobody wakes up in the morning and says, "Today I want to invest myself into a business, a relationship, a neighborhood, a new job. And I want it to produce chaos and the most painful sounds known to man." Nobody goes after that. And you know, look around for a minute. Consider the things that keep you up at night, and in many cases, it's those things that we expected to hear beautiful music from, but instead we didn't. Today we're going to see in the Word of God, in Philippians chapter 2, how that playing off the same sheet of music is so important to followers of Jesus Christ. Today we're going to see that if you want to have the joy of God in your life that unity is critical. And today we're going to see that the equation for joy and unity in the Bible is often exactly the opposite of what the world would say it needs to be. We're going to see that in Philippians chapter 2, so if you have your Bibles, turn there, and we're going to read the first several verses. One of the things that we find when we read the New Testament, and especially the writings of the apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, the apostle Paul has Page 1 of 9
this idea that comes out in almost every letter that he writes to a church, and here's the fundamental principle. The apostle Paul believes that when you are born again, when you become a Christian, you're born into, you're adopted into the family of God, and here's his logic. His logic is if we are all a part of the same family, listening to the instructions of the same Father, then there ought to be a sense of unity among those people. Does that make sense? And time and time again, when he writes these letters to churches all over that part of the world, he reminds them of that reality. Not only not only that if you want to experience the life, the fullness of life, the abundant life that God intends, does unity need to be at the foundation, but he also says this. When followers of Jesus live in disunity, the world looks at it and makes a critique not just of Christians, but of the God the Father that they serve. And so unity is a big deal, and we're going to see how big of a deal, and how to get there, in Philippians chapter 2. So let's read together beginning in verse number 1. In chapter 2, verse 1, the Bible says this: 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. Now look at verse 3. He says Do nothing everybody say nothing Response: Nothing. Nothing from selfish ambition of conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Verse 4. So let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Now, we're going to read the next several verses as we get to the end of the message, but I want to make some observations about what we just read first. And if you're taking notes, you might want to jot some of these down. Number one, when you look at the first verse, Paul, the writer, says this: So if there is. Do you see that? Something like that in your translation? If you have the ESV, it says If there is any. Anybody got that? Are you sure? Okay. Here's what's important to understand: when you read that in the original language, Paul is not asking a question that he doesn't already know the answer to. So when he says Is there any encouragement in Christ, he's not writing to say, "Hey, have you guys been encouraged at all?" No. When he says those words, you understand as the reader that he's not asking a question, he's making an assumption. In fact, here's how you could read it. You could read it like this: Because there is such obvious encouragement in Christ, because there is such obvious comfort from His love, because there is such obvious participation in the Spirit. That's the point of what he's saying. Now that's going to become very important, because that that assumption that Christ, that God has done those things is the foundation of the rest of what he's going to say. But notice a couple of other things. Number two, how Paul says this. He says Complete my joy by being of the same mind. Complete my joy by being of the same mind. He says Complete my joy by being of the same mind. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, "My joy is not completely full until you are walking the way that God has called you to walk." Page 2 of 9
Have you ever noticed that other people can really mess up the good things that are happening in your life? You ever been to a family reunion, or maybe a Christmas, where everybody comes together, and at some point you're standing around talking to somebody, or when you get home, talking to your spouse, and you say, "Well, if So-and-so would just stop acting like such-and-such, then this would be a lot better for everybody." You know what I'm talking about? Do you know who that person is in your family? Mm-hmm. If you don't, it might be you; I'm just saying. And number three, I want you to catch this. That we'll read in a few minutes verses 5 through 11. After he challenges them to think and behave a certain way, he says, "Just so you don't have any excuses, I want to tell you about the Master. "I want to tell you about the prime example of living this way," and he gives the example of Jesus Christ. We're going to read about that in just a minute. So what is it that the apostle Paul is getting at? The first thing that I think we can draw from this text is that Paul says, "If you want to have a fullness of joy, and you want to walk in unity, the first thing that has to happen" verse number 1 "is that you must be satisfied with God." Write that down if you're taking notes. You must be satisfied with God. See, remember, he's going to get to the place where he says, "I want you to consider others more significant than yourself." But before he does any of that, he says, "First and foremost, let me restate the obvious: that God has comforted you with His love. That Christ has encouraged you with His life. And that the Holy Spirit is with you in fellowship." See, here's what Paul is saying. Everything else is dependent on you recognizing that there is a level of satisfaction that can only be found in God, and no matter who you get around you in your circle, no matter how amazing your spouse may be, no matter how wonderful that boyfriend or girlfriend or that next boss may become, it only fills up your cup this much, and there's a satisfaction that can only come in Jesus. And if we look anyplace else, we'll always come up lacking. See, one of the reasons why I believe that people today get so broken-hearted in so many relationships is because we're looking for people to fulfill something that only God can. Yeah. Some of us are acutely aware that we are not good at being the savior of the world. And one of the things when people come into my office, and they have marriage challenges, or kid challenges, or boss challenges, the first place we always have to go is where does Jesus, where does God fit into that equation? Because listen, this is how serious it is if we think that there are people who can accomplish something that God can't accomplish, we've just made people an idol, and people make lousy saviors. There's only one Person who can bear the weight of the world on His shoulders and come out victorious, and His name is Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen? [Applause] And this is what he says; he says three things are happening. Number one, there's encouragement; number one, there's encouragement. That comes from Christ, he says, and that word in the Greek, it means to come alongside in order to support. You ever injured yourself and Page 3 of 9
you needed somebody to come alongside and give you their shoulder to lean on? Does that picture ring true? That's what Jesus does; He comes alongside to support. He says there's a comfort from God's love. That means that it's the consolation to help you when you're struggling or when you're hurting. And he says there's a participation. In other words, there's a fellowship, because Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans, but I will send My Holy Spirit." That means that you don't just learn about God from a distance, but you can experience God through the Holy Spirit. That's the participation with the Spirit. And Paul says nothing compares to what Christ has to offer, and we must be satisfied in Him. You know, the children of Israel had an issue with this 1,000 years earlier 700 years earlier when they were not putting God in the center of their community, and this is what the prophet Jeremiah came and said to them. In Jeremiah 2:12 he says these words. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for My people have committed two evils: number one, they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living water, and number two, they've hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Some people get this idea that God is in heaven saying, "I'm going to take away all the things that you love." But in reality, God is saying, "No." If you are not satisfied in Him, the Fountain of living water, then you will inevitably go after and try to fill up a broken cup, that no matter how much you pour into, it ends up empty. And loved ones, that's what God wants to rescue you from is a life that's always pouring in more successes, and more relationships, and more money, and then you come to drink it to be satisfied, and it's empty 'cause it's broken. God says, "Come to Me, the Rivers of living water, and I will truly satisfy you." That's what God can do. Amen. [Applause] And here's the second thing. He goes on to say, and look at verse number 2. Verse number 2 he says that you need to realign your thinking. Number one, you need to be satisfied with God, in God; number two, we must realign our thinking, verse number 2. He says Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Now in my Bible, I have same mind, same love, united in spirit, and one purpose all underlined, because it's the heartbeat of what he's communicating to them. Here's what he's saying. "Listen you were adopted into the same family. It's time to get on the same page." Can I get an amen? Response: Amen. Here's what happens when we're not on the same page a personal story. Two summers ago I decided that I was going to I was going to take up a hobby, I was going to learn some new skills, and I was going to build some furniture for my office at home. Impressive; I can tell you're impressed. You don't have to say anything. I can just tell. Now, I'm not very handy. I'm not a very handy person, but I can follow instructions and watch YouTube videos. So I decided that I was going to build some shelves that would fit just right on a wall in my office at home. Got a lot of books but not a lot of room, so I Page 4 of 9
needed it to be just the right width, and just the right depth, and fit just in the right spot in my office. So far so good? So I did what any unskilled carpenter would do. I invented plans in my mind of how to do this, and sketched them out. Then I went to Lowe's, and I picked up all the lumber that I would need, and I brought it back to the house, and I decided how wide each shelf needed to be. So I got out my chop saw yes, I know what a chop saw is. I got out my chop saw, and I measured the first shelf with a measuring tape, drew the line, and I cut it. Response: [Murmuring] Female: Even I know that was wrong. No, it was perfect it was. It was perfect. It was exactly the right width for my shelves. So then I took that board that I had cut, and I laid it on top of the next one, and I drew the line, and then I cut it. And then I took that board, and I laid it on top of the next one, drew the line, and I cut it. [Laughter] Yeah; where were you two summers ago? [Laughter] "Ohh." So this amazing thing happened. It was logical in my mind that that process would succeed, but when I lined up all my shelves, when I was getting ready to put it together, this like I don't know. It must've been Satan, because [laughter] every one of my shelves was uniquely and wonderfully made. So now instead of having shelves the width of the longest board, now I have shelves the width of the shortest board, 'cause I made it work. But here's the point. The difference between what I did and what you would've done if you knew what you were doing is rather than taking the piece that had been cut and measured and then using that as your template, you would've always come back to the objective source, the measuring tape, to make your cuts. And you know what's happening in the world today? We're looking around at people who have made copies of copies of copies, and we're copying our marriages, and our finances, and our purpose, and our future, and the reason that we exist. We're copying them after copies of copies, because it's the copies of copies that make headlines, and that are on the front pages of magazines, and that sell lots of books. But they're copies of copies, and at the end of the day, we end up building relationships, and investing years of our lives, into things; and then we wake up at the end of the day, and we look at what we have built, and all of a sudden we're thinking [leans sideways] it's crooked. And do you know why God wrote it down? Listen to me, church. I know that the world says this is old-school. I know that the world says this is irrelevant. That it's just, you know, the context is so outdated. I know that the world is coming up with all kinds of reasons to say that there are copies of copies that are better things to build your life on. But God had it written down so that for generations and generations, we could come back to the original measuring measurements, and build our lives on something that is solid, and that can be built to the heavens and not topple over. And it's only the Word of God that we can build our lives on Page 5 of 9
and not tumble down. [Applause] And if you're not a Christian, you hear that and you think, "Ah, well, you Christians are so narrow-minded." Listen, when you're building a submarine that you're going to live on, you get pretty narrow-minded about following the instructions. In fact, if someone has built a submarine that's been built time and time again, and it's worked, is it narrow-minded to follow those instructions? Or is it somewhat arrogant to say, "Well, I've never built one before, but [raspberry] I'm just going to do it the way I want to do it?" And the good news is that no matter how much of our lives we've lived off-course from this book, here's the thing about God: He's been following you. And so as you hear those words and recognize, "I have not built my life on this, on the truth of this book," that's not to say that God is there to take you out. It's God's been following you, so that when you turn around you're only one step away from His grace and mercy and love and forgiveness. [Applause] So he says we need to realign our thinking; we need to focus and get on the same page. And let me give you quickly the things that he's calling us to. Number one, he's saying if you're all adopted into the same family, then number one, we need to have the same mind, which means that we agree on essential beliefs. Number one, we need to agree on essential beliefs. Listen, your beliefs about who God is and what this Book says really matter. They really matter. And it's worth the investment to read the Bible, to learn how to study the Bible, to take classes that help inform you about the Bible. It's worth the effort, because we must be united on essential beliefs. Number two, he says you need to be of the same love. What's his point? His point is we need to love one another with God's love. See, I can promise you this: my love will run out, but God's love never does. Have you ever noticed that some Christians are like porcupines? They make a good point, but they're hard to get close to; have you noticed that? [Laughter] Yeah. You're welcome. I didn't do that at 9:00. I knew they weren't up to it, but I knew you could handle it. There you go. But see, it's not just about having theoretical beliefs. It's about loving one another with God's love. And what's the epitome of God's love? That He came in the flesh and came near. That's how we need to love one another. Number three, he says we need to be united in spirit. What does that mean? It means that we, our desires, are united. How do we unite our desires? Well, we desire what God desires. We desire what God desires. See, here's the tragic story line that too many people have connected to Christianity. Too many people have connected this story line, and they'll say that if you want to become a Christian, you need to clean up your life, and get rid of all the things that up until this point have brought you joy and pleasure. And if you get rid of everything that's brought you joy and pleasure, and then leave all of the people that have been your friends and family if you isolate yourself, and bury yourself in a hole, that's where God will find you. To how many of you does that sound like the good news? You know what the good news says? The good news says your desires are just a shadow of the desires that have been put Page 6 of 9
in you by the Creator, and are meant to be fulfilled by God alone. See, the narrative of the good news of the gospel is not that God wants to take away your desires; it's that He wants to give you better desires that He can satisfy that can truly fulfill. But the only way that we can do that is to walk by faith in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The third thing that he says, we must have one purpose; that is to work together for God's purpose. What's God's purpose? Well, I tell you what, it has something to do with that. It has something to do with the Great Commission. It has something to do with the fact that God sees the world full of lost sons and daughters, and He put people like me and you in this world to go find lost sons and daughters and introduce them to the love of the Father. That's your purpose. That's your purpose. Third thing that Paul says is we need to not only realign our thinking, be satisfied with God, but thirdly and finally, we need to act according to the Kingdom; verses 3 and 4. He says Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant then yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Let me read that one more time, and just let it sink in. Listen to the words for just a moment. 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. This perhaps is one of the most counter-cultural statements that the Bible will make, because it says the road to fullness, the road to joy, the road to unity, is not to seek to have all of your priorities fulfilled, but instead it's to consider others more important than yourself. Now, tell me if that's not a counter-cultural statement that few will embrace. But that's what the Bible says, and this is literally, in the original language, what the words mean. Selfish ambition or conceit could be stated like this. He says, "Do nothing manipulatively self-seeking, or falsely self-promoting." Number one, do nothing that is manipulatively self-seeking and falsely self-promoting. Now, stop for a second. Has anybody here been self-promoting, or manipulatively self-seeking, in the last seven days? [Raises hand] Probably all of us, to some degree. I mean at some point, we've said, "I just want it my way." At some point, we've said, "Well, I may not tell the whole truth. "I won't lie, but I'm not going to tell the whole truth. I'm just going to tell the facts that make me look a little better." Now, I want you to think about this when it comes to your place of employment. Now, if you go to work every day, you go into an environment where, in most cases, the people who are succeeding are succeeding because, in many cases, they are manipulating and self-promoting. Am I right? Response: Amen. Manipulative and self-promoting. Does that sound like I don't know politics? Not every politician, but I'm just saying, when you look at what it's known for, there it is. You know, Paul comes in, he addresses this 2,000 years ago, and he says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit." So what is the appropriate posture to have? He says, Page 7 of 9
"Humility, and counting others more significant than yourselves." Now, too often people get the idea of humility wrong, because humility does not mean that you walk around and say, "Oh, I'm a terrible person." It doesn't mean when somebody says, "Hey, great job," you say, "No, no, no, no, no, no no glory, no glory. I'm just humble." In fact, have you noticed that people who seek to be the most humble usually end up the most arrogant? You know why? Listen, never seek humility, because well, let me put it this way: if you focus too much on your own humility, you will end up becoming prideful about the intent of your heart. You know a better pursuit is seek to be like Jesus, and make others more significant than yourself, and humility will follow. But the reality is, when it comes to going home at the end of the day let me talk to married people for just a second. The Bible is literally saying to you that if you want the joy of the Lord to fill your home, if you want the unity of the Spirit in your home, then you go home and rather than making demands and expectations of your spouse, you go in as a humble servant, and you make their priorities your priorities. [Long silence followed by laughter] I don't know, but that might've been a single person; I'm just saying. These are the worst kind of messages to preach. You know why? Because all week long, the Lord has been pointing out to me the many, many ways where I prefer to put myself in first place. And it's not just whether or not we do the things that we ought to do, but what's the attitude with which we do them? When your spouse asks you to do something, do you on the outside get up and go do it, while on the inside you're thinking, "I can't believe I mean I just got comfortable, and I've been working hard all day, and I've got a sermon to" well, this is me now "and I've got a sermon I've got other things on my mind." And we get up and do it, but on the inside listen on the inside, we've constructed this little functional heaven that we don't want anybody to disrupt, because why? We're not focused on one purpose, to be a humble servant and love others with the love that God's loved us, but we focused on saying, "How can I exalt my own comfort and satisfaction?" And we've betrayed the gospel and built another kingdom for ourselves to live in. But God says, Paul says, "No. If you want to have joy and unity, then in humility count others more significant than yourselves." And then fourthly and I'll conclude with this. Fourthly, he says Let each of you look everybody say look. Response: Look. Come on say look. Response: Look. Not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. The word look in the original language is skopéō, and it means to fervently pay attention to something, almost to the point of being worried about it. Fervently, actively pay attention. Let each of you look pay attention to, focus on, concern yourself with not only to his own interests, Page 8 of 9
but also to the interests of others. You want the joy of the Lord to overflow in your life? You want to live life as a citizen of the gospel, like Paul said; live life worthy of the gospel? This is one of the things you've got to do, is you have to pay attention to the needs, the interests of the people around you. And because you've made them a high priority, now you're invested in somebody else's life. And that is so backwards to what the world says, because the world says, "Invest yourself in building yourself up, so you can be happy." And those who spend their life doing it end up with an empty cup. The gospel says, "Be captured by the heights and the depths that God has gone to, to love you and rescue you. Then concern yourself with the welfare of others, and let God concern Himself with yours." 'Cause there's only room for one caretaker over your life. God said, "I'm it." But do you live that way? 'Cause if you do, you'll be about the concerns of others. Not easy stuff, is it? But it's the real deal, and it's what sets followers of Jesus apart. And here's why. It's almost as if it's almost as if when he wrote this, he knew that people were going to read it and think, "Huh, hey, when we read that publicly, leave out those first few verses of chapter 2," 'cause this is what he says: 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 He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul says, "Listen, when you were captured by the gospel, you were captured by this story. Jesus is the example. See, He was the One who had the rights of a King, but He came in the form of a servant. Do you want to be like Jesus? He was the One who could've avoided every discomfort, and yet He chose suffering. Do you want to be like Jesus? "He was the One who could've demanded His rights, but instead He laid down His rights. He was the One who could've never tasted pain and death, but He was the One who" listen "because He did, God lifted Him up, exalted Him with the Name that is above every name." That's the gospel. You give your life away, and God will lift you up; you hold onto your life, and you'll lose it. There it is. And if you've been impacted by the love of Jesus, He's beckoning you, He's calling you, "Follow My example, because there is more to come. There is a greater joy. There is a greater hope. There is a greater peace. But it's the gospel story that works." Give everything away, and watch Him give you everything in return; then you know joy, and joy unspeakable. Amen? Will you bow your heads with me? Page 9 of 9