As many of you know, recently I’ve developed a deep passion for the Church Renewal Movement. In other words, help struggling, sick, dying and dead churches find new life through revitalization and replanting. In my studies on the subject, one thing has become very clear to me: The cause for most sick, dying, or dead churches can be boiled down to simple lack of unity. Forget the back-biting, politics, and sneering faces that represent the absolute worst many churches have to offer. It’s honestly as simple as people (many of whom are good and friendly) doing their own thing for their own reasons and under their own power.
They scramble for footholds and build strongholds to cement their place of prestige within a local church and to ensure their own influence. And gradually, over a time, a church is laid to rest because of it.
Many of you know what I’m talking about. Many of you have seen it or experienced it first hand and if you haven’t, then maybe you are the one placing your own prestige above everything else. Either way, it’s a shame to see, but very common.
So, one might wonder if it’s that common, how any church can fix their issues? The simple answer: they must attain unity.
That might be a simple answer, but putting it to practice is the real trick, right? Well, stick with me because thankfully, Paul addresses that very question in today’s passage!
If you have your Bible, open them to Philippians 2:1-11
Philippians 2:1–11 (NASB 2020) ~ 1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if 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 consider 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 in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: 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.
Before we continue…
Here’s a little point-by-point background on the occasion of the letter.
The book of Philippians is primarily a thank you letter.
While in prison (actually, house arrest) awaiting trial in Rome, the Philippians sent Paul a gift (he doesn’t say what this gift is, but he treasured it). They sent this gift along with a guy named Apaphroditus, who was sent to take care of Paul’s needs.
Apaphroditus was so committed to Paul he became ill and nearly died, so Paul wanted to commend his service to his church when he was well enough to travel back to them.
While he’s thanking them, Paul takes some time to address some potential issues he sees developing within the church:
Judaizers (and maybe a couple of other anti-Paul groups) have been creeping into the church. Judaizers were a group of people (mostly Jewish Christians) who believed that Gentiles should be required to follow Jewish law in order to be saved (ie circumcision).
Paul had already taken care of this heresy among the other Apostles, but many Judaizers were never satisfied with the outcome, so they caused problems for him wherever he went.
This group (and others) were causing some division among the church in Philippi.
In this passage, Paul is asking the Philippian church to unify and wants them to know that by doing so, joy will abound!
The first thing we want to take a look at is the Joy of Unity!
The Joy of Unity
Philippians 2:1–4 (NASB 2020) ~ 1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if 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 consider 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.
From these four verses, what kind of Unity are we, as a church, suppose to have?
We are to have Unity of Mind
It’s about being unified in attitude.
…In purpose.
…In mission.
And most importantly, in theology.
If we don’t agree with what God says, how can we unite on anything? If we don’t know who God is (THEO-logy = The study of God (i.e. His character, attributes, nature, etc), how can we agree on what He expects from us.
If we say God is love, how can we agree on what love is if we don’t have an understanding of God’s definition of love?
When I talk about unity in the church, I’m not talking about ecumenical nonsense, by the way. Ecumenicism would say the Church Universal needs to have a unified front despite differences in theological ideas. If a church excuses sin or teaches a Jesus outside the confines of Scripture, we have no business unifying with them.
We are to have Unity of Heart
We are to have the same love.
…love of God.
…love for one another.
…love for the community.
…love for a lost world.
We are to have Unity of Hands
This is essentially a church’s ministry. It’s service to the community. The Church has one dedicated purpose that is realized in various ways:
To glorify God through reflecting Christ within our community.
Tending to others’ needs above our own - our church’s needs, our community’s needs, our neighbors’ needs, etc.
So, the real question is, how do we attain this unity?
Attaining Unity
Philippians 2:5–8 (NASB 2020) ~ 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant andbeing born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.
So, from these three verses, how do you think we attain unity? Well, if you’re a Star Trek fan, think of it like a ‘Christian Mindmeld!’ We attain this unity as a church by adopting the same attitude (or Mind) of Christ! The word translated as ‘attitude’ literally means ‘mind.’ That being said, the translators of the New American Standard Bible (as well as several others) felt that ‘mind’ was a little too archaic and might cause confusion, so they opted to get to the heart of the word by translating it ‘mind.’ Personally, I think a better word might be ‘mindset’ or even ‘worldview.’
So, what exactly is Christ’s mindset or attitude that we’re supposed to adopt? Well, let’s look at the text above again.
First, Christ didn’t cling to his divinity. Although He was in every way God—pre-existent, all-powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, etc—He was willing to set that divinity aside for us!
He emptied Himself. This doesn’t mean He stripped Himself of His divinity altogether. He certainly limited it during His time on earth, but it was always at His beck and call. Instead, He chose not to take advantage of His divinity and live just like the rest of us (only without sinning). He emptied Himself of His majesty…of His privilege and power and might.
If you want to fill a cup with a fresh beverage, you must first empty it or else, you’ll have a mixture of old and new. Christ emptied His cup so He might become fully Man, as well as fully God.
Not only did He empty Himself, He lowered Himself and became a servant. Not just a servant, but a bond-servant. A slave. Someone whose rights have been stripped away and forced to work for a master. Here Jesus was…the Creator of the Universe…the one who spoke everything into existence…and we see Him at the end of His ministry washing the filth and grime from His disciples’ feet!
He obeyed to the point of death on a cross. He emptied Himself. He became a servant. And He obeyed God to the point of giving up His life on a cross—the most appalling and humiliating form of capital punishment at the time.
Therefore, in order to attain unity within the church, we need to conform to Jesus’s example of all these things. We do that easily enough with starting at the beginning. In other words, we adopt the mind of Christ by emptying ourselves. No matter our position, prestige, or power, we must ‘empty’ ourselves of it all.
And by the way, that not only includes emptying ourselves of the positive stuff, but also the negative as well! Lamenting our misfortunes is no different than bragging on our triumphs. Both are different forms of pride. It is still putting ourselves above others. Still putting ourselves above Christ!
So, when I say ‘empty’ ourselves, what am I talking about exactly? Well, in essence, ‘emptying’ ourselves is dying to self. Not living for ourselves, but living 1) for Christ and 2) for others! Through that, we begin to serve obediently with humility. If each of us did that, we, as a church, would automatically become unified because no one would be doing anything for status or applause or self-interest. By emptying ourselves of our own desires and wants, we become unified in the mission itself. We become unified in Christ!
So, what happens when we start living with the Mind of Christ? What happens when we truly unify in Christ? There’s an exaltation!
Exaltation Through Unity
Philippians 2:9–11 (NASB 2020) ~ 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.
When a church comes together and unifies with the same mind as that of Christ, something miraculous happens. Christ is glorified in our lives! He’s glorified in our church. He’s glorified in our community. And most amazing, He’s glorified in our nation and the entire world!
There will come a time when every knee on earth will bow to Him in complete humility. Every tongue will one day confess His Lordship. It will happen to every man, woman, and child who lives and who has ever lived…no matter how rebellious they’ve been. No matter how prideful they’ve been. No matter how much they have despised Christ throughout their lives. Everyone single one of us will bow the knee at some point or another.
Isn’t it far better to do it now, voluntarily? Our lives were designed to be in communion with God. If we’re not in communion with Him, there is no way to fulfill our purpose. No way to fulfill the ‘meaning of life!’ Humbling ourselves now…bowing the knee now…confessing the Lordship of Christ Jesus now…is our first step in fulfilling that purpose for our lives.
And it’s not just a one-time thing either. Yes, salvation is forever. Once saved is always saved. But we need to continually bow that knee as a means of maintaining our fellowship with God. We should continually confess His lordship to remind us of our need for humility. In doing so, we grow and grow more to have the mind of Christ!
Picture it now…a single church that becomes unified with the mind of Christ!! Imagine what such a church could accomplish? That’s the kind of church your church could be.
All it takes is stepping out now and committing to have the same attitude as that of Christ. All it takes is one person to do this and set the example. All it takes is you!
