Text: Philippians 2:1-11 Title: Unchained Relationships ILLUSTRATION On our flight home from our India and Lebanon mission trip Nan and I were stuck inside an aluminum tube called an airplane for sixteen hours with 350 other people. Seated across the aisle from us were twin two-year olds who acted like two-year olds for the whole flight. Seated in front of us was a guy who thought the whole space in front of him and behind him belonged to him. When we boarded the plane we had gone nearly 24-hours without sleep. And as you know the power of the sin nature in us is directly proportional to the amount of sleep we have had. And here we are surrounded with strangers who are encroaching on our physical space and assaulting our ears with their screams. It sounds a little bit like home sometimes, doesn t it? It sounds a little bit like church sometimes, doesn t it. So how do we keep from exploding on the people around us? Let s open our Bibles to Philippians 2. We re in this series of messages I ve entitled Unchained. Paul is writing to some brothers and sisters in Christ who are incredibly dear to him. And it has saddened him to learn that there s been some conflict and disunity in the church he loves so dearly. Remember that Paul is writing from a Roman prison. And from that perspective he sees things a lot differently. He s physically chained but he s found freedom in Christ he s unchained. And in that condition he understands what s most important in life. In situations like that, people you love grow more dear to you. In Philippians 1:8 he writes that he longs for them with the affection of Christ. He loves them that much. So when he learns that there s this disagreement in the church he will take a significant portion of his letter to address this issue. To get started let s read the first few verse. Read Philippians 2:1-5. Philippians 2:5 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Literally, think this way. It s a command. It s a command for continuous action. Keep on thinking this way. You see, we have control over our attitude, even when the circumstances are very trying. As I said, running in the background of this command in v.5 is some conflict in the church. He ll mention it later in v.14 where he tells them to do everything without complaining or arguing. Yes, that s in the Bible. Later he gets more specific:
Philippians 4:2 I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Can you imagine what it was like when this letter was first read at the church gathering in Philippi. These two women were probably seated in the room with everyone else and suddenly their names are called. Maybe they wanted to crawl under the rug. But this dispute, for whatever reason, had become an issue in the church that Paul needed to address along with other matters. And the answer is the same for this issue as in any other issue. Keep you focus on Jesus Christ. This letter drips with Jesus. There are over 100 verses and in half of them Paul mentions Jesus. So this is how he will approach this problem. Let s bring it into the light of Christ. So what's the secret to keeping harmony in your relationships at home, at church, on a ministry team or any where else believers relate to each other? How do you keep relationships from exploding when there are the inevitable disagreements? Well here is the scriptural way: 1. FOCUS ON YOUR EXPERIENCE IN CHRIST (v.1). Think about all that we experience when we come to Christ and when we know Christ. That s what v.1 is about. Philippians 2:1 - If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion Notice the repeated use of the word if. This is not an if of doubt but rather an if of certainty. It might be better translated, Is it not true First, is it not true that there is encouragement that comes from being united with Christ? Certainly there is. Encouragement means to come alongside another to support them. And Christ does that for us by His Holy Spirit. ILLUSTRATION One of the projects of our India team was to deliver hospice buckets to the homes of dying persons in villages where our church planters work. In more than one place the families were so eager for us to arrive that they helped their terminally ill loved one to walk to the door and sit on the step to meet us. They supported them on both sides. That s the picture here. In countless ways Christ comes alongside us to support us.
Second, is it not true that there is comfort that comes from His love? Absolutely! In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4a Praise be to the God of all comfort who comforts us in all of our troubles Third, is it not true that there is sweet fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Absolutely! The Holy Spirit living in us assures us that we are children of God. The Holy Spirit living in us helps us in our weaknesses. The Holy Spirit in us makes the presence of Christ real in our lives. Yes, there s sweet fellowship with the Holy Spirit Next, is it not true that there is tenderness in Christ? Is it not true that there is compassion in Christ? Sure there is! If you have a relationship with Christ you know how tenderly and affectionately He loves you. You know the compassion and mercy He has shown to you when He laid down His life, dying for your sins. You were dead in your sins and He had compassion for you. You see, the power to live in loving relationships with others comes through Christ. And it my tank isn t full of His encouragement, His comfort, His fellowship, His tenderness and His compassion, I will not have anything to give to others. Every relationship problem is a spiritual problem. So get your tank full of Jesus and you will have what you need to love the people around you, particularly the ones who may not be that lovable. And when you get your tank full of Jesus others will find it easier to live with you. So the first way to keep harmony in your relationships is to focus on your experience with Christ. Then 2. LET THAT EXPERIENCE SHAPE YOUR BEHAVIOR. What a difference it makes when your behavior toward others is shaped by your experience in Christ. Let me give you a few practical applications of vv.2-5, as we read them earlier: First, take responsibility for your attitude.
Philippians 2:2a - Make my joy complete by being like-minded Your mind is your attitude. Take responsibility for the way you think your attitude. QUOTE: In one of his books Chuck Swindoll writes: The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you; we are in charge of our attitudes." So take responsibility for your attitude. Second, determine to live up to the love of Christ. Philippians 2:2 - having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Live up to the standard of the love of Christ. We let the love Christ has shown to us become the guiding emotion and the driving determination in every relationship. And if we re all deterimined to live up to that standard then the love of Christ will permeate our life together. Third, adopt a you first mentality. That s what Jesus did on the night before He was crucified. The Bible says in John 13 that Jesus, having loved his disciples who were in the world, now showed them the full extent of His love. And with that Jesus began to wash the feet of His disciples. He began to serve them with deep humility. Knowing the fickleness of his followers knowing that one of them was about to betray him to death knowing after that night they would all desert Him Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist and one by one began to wash the feet of His disciples. He served them in the most humiliating way. They deserved a good tongue-lashing, but He gave them a good foot-washing. That s a you first mentality. Philippians 2:3 - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
And here s something else: Don t wait until you feel like doing it. Our sin nature will usually keep our own interests ahead of others. Don t wait to feel like doing it. Do it. Humble yourself to serve others and watch how God changes your feelings. Adopt a you-first mentality. Fourth, be a student of the needs of others. Philippians 2:4 - Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. That word look means to notice carefully or to be concerned about something. You see we typically have what someone has called in-grown eyeballs. We re constantly thinking about and looking after our own needs or interests. But if our tank is full of the love and life of Christ we begin to notice the needs of others. A parent notices the sad countenance on their child s face. A husband notices his wife struggling to clear the table after she has worked hard all day and come home to prepare the family s meal. A student notices that another student across the cafeteria is sitting alone. A tired deacon comes home from a busy day at work and notices that one of his shepherd group has just been admitted to the hospital. And we don t just notice; we act we do something about it. You see, that s Jesus. He noticed the people and the needs that no one else noticed. He didn t just look after His own interests, but saw the needs of others. Jesus saw the woman in the crowd with the blood disease and healed her. Jesus saw the shameful tax collector in the tree and spoke to him. Jesus saw the awful sin debt that we all owed and took it on Himself by dying on the Cross for us. So Paul sums it all up with the command Philippians 2:5 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: And that leads to the next way we build harmony in our relationships. We focus on our experience in Christ. We let that experience shape our behavior. And in all of it we 3. FOLLOW THE PATTERN OF JESUS (vv.6-11). Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. And what is that attitude? We re told in vv.6-11. By the way, these verses may have been an
ancient, Christ-exalting hymn. It may have even been sung by Philippian believers as they worshipped. Our best hymns and worship songs are the ones that point us to Christ. Think of this as a song with four stanzas: STANZA #1 CHRIST S DIETY Philippians 2:6 - Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, STANZA #2 CHRIST S INCARNATION Philippians 2:7 - but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. STANZA #3 CHRIST S HUMILIATION Philippians 2:8 - And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross! Jesus got low in becoming a human.then He got even lower by obeying the Father in His death. Then He got even lower by dying on in the most humiliating way death on a cross. STANZA #4 CHRIST S EXALTATION Philippians 2:9 - Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, He was given the highest place and the highest name. Philippians 2:10 - that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Philippians 2:11 - and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now here s why this is so important. Jesus didn t exalt Himself. He got low. He humbled Himself and the Father exalted Him. You see, you don t need to be selfishly ambitious and vainly conceited. You don t have to push yourself forward and to have everything focused on you when you know that God has everything
covered. You don t have to protect yourself because He will protect you. You don t have to push your interest; He has your interest covered. If anyone had the right to exalt Himself it was Christ. But He didn t exalt Himself. He knew He didn t have to. He left His interests in the hands of the Father, and humbled Himself. James 4:10 Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up. ILLUSTRATION If this room were to suddenly be filled with fire and smoke, the only oxygen will be down by the floor. So if we re going to get out alive we ll have to get low. We ll have to get low because that s where the living-giving, lifesustaining oxygen is. And in the best of families and the best of churches there will be situations where the fire and smoke of disagreements can fill the air. That when we need to get low humble ourselves and there we will find the life-giving, life-sustaining oxygen of Christ s love.