BACKGROUND:
Paul wanted unity in the Philippian church so they could carry on the ministry of the gospel; but such unity would only be possible by being united with Christ so that there would be harmonious relationships among the believers themselves.
Paul asked four rhetorical questions. These conditions already existed in the Philippian church. It had some problems to deal with, but the church had proven itself to be strong and unified. Paul asked if there was any encouragement from belonging to Christ. The word translated “encouragement” is the same word when he spoke of the Holy Spirit as the Counselor or Comforter (John 14:16). Every believer has received encouragement, exhortation, and comfort from Christ. That common experience ought to unite the Philippians.
The Philippian believers had comfort from his love. The common experience of Christ’s love should unite them (Ephesians 5:25). In turn, their common love for Christ should cause them to love one another. They had fellowship together in the Spirit. When a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, he or she receives the Holy Spirit. Each believer has personal fellowship with the Holy Spirit in his or her private life; all the believers are united by the same Spirit in times of fellowship. Because there is only one Spirit, there can be only one body (Ephesians 4:4); factions or divisiveness have no place in the body of Christ.
They also had hearts that were tender and sympathetic. When the Holy Spirit works in believers’ lives, fruit is produced (Galatians 5:22-23). “Tenderness” refers to sensitivity to others’ needs or feelings; “sympathy” means feeling the sorrow of another person and desiring to help alleviate it. Such concern for one another unifies a body of believers.
The four results of unity listed above are here joined by four goals for harmony in the church. The Philippians had given Paul great joy. Yet Paul was aware of a lack of unity in the Philippian church. For example, believers were demonstrating a false sense of spiritual superiority over others, and some were not working harmoniously with others. Paul knew that even the beginnings of divisiveness could cause major problems unless the “cracks” were repaired quickly.
Because of their common experience in Christ and their common fellowship with the Holy Spirit, they should be agreeing wholeheartedly with each other. This does not mean that the believers have to agree on everything; instead, each believer should have the mind (or attitude) of Christ, which Paul describes at length in 2:5-11.
Paul also wanted the church to be loving one another. Christ’s love sent him from heaven, into humble humanity, to death on a cross on behalf of sinners. Although believers cannot do what Christ did, they follow Christ’s example when they express the same love in their dealings with others.
Jesus had prayed for future believers, “that they may be one” (John 17:22). The church ought to be working together with one heart. The Holy Spirit should unite the believers into one body.
As they stand firm in the Spirit, they overcome small differences and work forcefully toward one purpose—a common goal. The church’s goal was to spread the gospel.
A unified church is a formidable fortress against any enemy. The very unity of the Philippian church would ensure that it could stand against any persecution or false teaching that might come its way.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
HE HAS RISEN!!! This is the greatest day of the year - the day that Jesus beat death. The day that Jesus proved He was who He said He was. The day that changed the world. This passage from Philippians 2 is so key, so foundational. It is THE passage that in a sense proves our faith. I pray it brings encouragement to your life this week. I pray it builds the foundation of your faith.
There’s an important ingredient missing in many of our lives. It’s the ingredient of joy. And because of it life just doesn’t taste as sweet as it should. For some of you life is a little flat like that bread without yeast. And for some of you, life is feeling pretty tasteless like that popcorn without any butter. How do you get that ingredient of joy back in? That’s part of what Philippians 2 is all about. When you feel like you’re lacking in life rather than living life you need joy. When you find that you don’t have the energy for what you really need to do in life, you need joy. That’s where the energy comes from. When the difficulties that you face start to feel like Mount Everest that’s when you and I need joy. “The joy of the Lord is our strength.”
I just want to look together through these verses today and take a look at one of the most awesome passages of scripture and see how God wants to work His awesome joy into our lives.
It starts with building on the right foundation. Do you want to have God's joy in your inner life and your inner attitude you’ve got to build on the right foundation? Philippians 2:1 says, “If you have any encouragement for being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with His Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded and having the same love and being one in spirit and purpose.” There’s a four-fold foundation for joy in those verses. This is what it starts with, this is what you need to build with.
1. First of all he says if you want to be joyful you have to have the foundation of encouragement in life.
It starts with encouragement. Discouraged people are rarely joyful people. It’s very difficult to be joyful when you’re discouraged. When I’m discouraged, I’m so concerned about what I’m facing, it’s very difficult to have concern for anybody else. And it’s very difficult to have God's joy in my life. Life can be discouraging sometimes. There are those big Winnebagoes in life. When we go through this cycle of getting discouraged. Then when you get discouraged you get a little bit selfish, self-centered. Then when you get self-centered, that doesn’t work so you get more discouraged. Then you grow more selfish.
How do you break the cycle? How do you break that discouragement cycle? The how to’s are in these verses. “If there’s any encouragement in being united with Christ.”
That’s where it comes from. I need other people to encourage me, no doubt about that. I love the encouragement of other people. But these verses remind me that the number one encouragement to build a foundation for the kind of relationship the kind of heart that results in joy is encouragement in being united with Christ. It’s encouragement of knowing that I have eternal life because of Jesus Christ. Nothing can change that. I don’t care what happened to you today. If you’re a believer in Christ, it can make the Guinness book of records for the worst day ever that doesn’t change the fact that you’re united with Christ. Nothing as it tells us in Romans 8 can separate us from the love of Christ. That’s a foundation. That’s what you build on.
2. Part two of this foundation is comfort. If you want to be joyful you’ve got to be comfortable.
I just want to look together through these verses today and take a look at one of the most awesome passages of scripture and see how God wants to work His awesome joy into our lives.
It starts with building on the right foundation. Do you want to have God's joy in your inner life and your inner attitude you’ve got to build on the right foundation? Philippians 2:1 says, “If you have any encouragement for being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with His Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded and having the same love and being one in spirit and purpose.” There’s a four-fold foundation for joy in those verses. This is what it starts with, this is what you need to build with.
1. First of all he says if you want to be joyful you have to have the foundation of encouragement in life.
It starts with encouragement. Discouraged people are rarely joyful people. It’s very difficult to be joyful when you’re discouraged. When I’m discouraged, I’m so concerned about what I’m facing, it’s very difficult to have concern for anybody else. And it’s very difficult to have God's joy in my life. Life can be discouraging sometimes. There are those big Winnebagoes in life. When we go through this cycle of getting discouraged. Then when you get discouraged you get a little bit selfish, self-centered. Then when you get self-centered, that doesn’t work so you get more discouraged. Then you grow more selfish.
How do you break the cycle? How do you break that discouragement cycle? The how to’s are in these verses. “If there’s any encouragement in being united with Christ.”
That’s where it comes from. I need other people to encourage me, no doubt about that. I love the encouragement of other people. But these verses remind me that the number one encouragement to build a foundation for the kind of relationship the kind of heart that results in joy is encouragement in being united with Christ. It’s encouragement of knowing that I have eternal life because of Jesus Christ. Nothing can change that. I don’t care what happened to you today. If you’re a believer in Christ, it can make the Guinness book of records for the worst day ever that doesn’t change the fact that you’re united with Christ. Nothing as it tells us in Romans 8 can separate us from the love of Christ. That’s a foundation. That’s what you build on.
2. Part two of this foundation is comfort. If you want to be joyful you’ve got to be comfortable.
Physically think about this a minute with me. Think about the most comfortable place you can think of. Maybe it’s your easy chair at home, the one that leans back and it’s really nice and comfortable. Maybe it’s up in some mountain meadow and you’re laying back and the sun shines on you. Wherever. Maybe somewhere in Hawaii and you’re laying out on the beach. Just go ahead and imagine it. The most comfortable place you can imagine.
How do you do that spiritually? How do you feel that comfort spiritually? Three words: God loves you.
That’s a spiritual ahhh. You lean back in your spirit and go, “Ahhh, God loves me.” I don’t know how many times it’s happened to me I’ve woken up at the beginning of the day and had a lot to do that day and I feel the pressure rising and I spend a few minutes with the Lord and I just remind myself “He loves me and all I really have to do today is love Him back the best I can.” There’s a spiritual ahhh that happens. There’s a spiritual comfort that comes into my life when that happens. If there’s any comfort from His love... that’s a part of the foundation.
3. The third part of the foundation he talks about here in these verses. Fellowship.
How do you do that spiritually? How do you feel that comfort spiritually? Three words: God loves you.
That’s a spiritual ahhh. You lean back in your spirit and go, “Ahhh, God loves me.” I don’t know how many times it’s happened to me I’ve woken up at the beginning of the day and had a lot to do that day and I feel the pressure rising and I spend a few minutes with the Lord and I just remind myself “He loves me and all I really have to do today is love Him back the best I can.” There’s a spiritual ahhh that happens. There’s a spiritual comfort that comes into my life when that happens. If there’s any comfort from His love... that’s a part of the foundation.
3. The third part of the foundation he talks about here in these verses. Fellowship.
If there’s any fellowship. We usually think of fellowship as fellowship with one another. That’s very important the relationships we have with other believers. But these verses talk about not just the fellowship we have with one another. Fellowship with other Christians is one Christian committing themselves to another Christian. But He says fellowship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s fellowship is God committing Himself to my everyday needs. Directing and sending me where He wants me by His spirit’s strength. That is wonderful. That builds the foundation for joy.
4. The fourth part of this foundation is tenderness and compassion. “If there’s any tenderness and compassion”. There’s a real foundation for any kind of joyful strength in my life when I realize somebody cares about me. God does.
4. The fourth part of this foundation is tenderness and compassion. “If there’s any tenderness and compassion”. There’s a real foundation for any kind of joyful strength in my life when I realize somebody cares about me. God does.
And because of that I can care about what other people are going through. If you shut down the compassion, the tenderness in your life – and we all do this sometimes when we get really tired – and you start to think, “I’m not going to think about anybody else. I’m just going to care about me,” we also shut off the joy factor in our life. That’s one of the foundations of joy.
Practice these foundational truths today - that's real faith. Putting what we read from God's word into action. Faith is movement. Faith is action. Faith is going forward.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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