“The Cure for Disunity!"
Captivated by Christ: An expositional sermon series on Paul's Letter to the Church in Philippi (message #13)
Pastor Jerry Ingalls
July 18, 2010
The purpose of FBC is to build the Kingdom of God! From the Great Commission we derive our mission statement, to intentionally follow Jesus Christ by making disciples! This is why we exist! To obediently follow the commands of our master! Do you know what I think the hardest part of discipleship is? I think it is learning how to love people who are unlovable; people who do and say stupid things that jeopardize the unity of the Church! It is learning how to forgive people who intentionally say and do things that are not Christ-like. The most challenging call we have as Christ-followers is to reconcile with those who have hurt us or others.
This is why I declare to you this morning that I have a dream and that dream is the vision of God for His Church--to be a house of reconciliation! What does that mean? I dream of FBC being a safe place for all people to experience the love, forgiveness, and reconciliation of God through Jesus Christ! And not only experience it for themselves, but to then become the ministers of reconciliation by carrying this great love into the world, one relationship at a time, through word and deed! Friends, this is our call; this is our mandate; this is the hardest work we will ever do! And we must be intentional because this is the pathway to build unity in the Church; not just at FBC, but beyond!
I have been teaching you by walking verse by verse through Paul's letter to the Philippians, and it is not by accident that the weeks prior to our Centennial Celebration and now the weeks afterwards I find God's word directly and without hesitation teaching us that the way you live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ is by living in unity! We will never be a house of reconciliation if it does not start with our unity within our relationships and as the body of Christ, the Church! God's word makes no exception for disunity in His Church; we are the one body of Christ!
Let's dive into God's word; please open your Bible to Philippians 2:3-5 (NIV), "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" [prayer]
In previous weeks, I have taught extensively on the life of unity. Today, let us continue with the Apostle Paul as he turns our eyes to the cure for disunity!
THE CURE FOR DISUNITY IS HUMILITY!
Proverbs 11:2 teaches us this age old truth, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Pride will destroy our fellowship and diminish the light of our witness to Henry County and to the nations; my pride or your pride! There is nothing attractive about spiritual pride, intellectual pride, classism, elitism, or any other 'ism.' They are each a cancer from the Devil that causes disunity! God has given us the antidote to this cancer of disunity and it is humility modeled for us in and through His Son Jesus Christ! Let's look again to our Scripture lesson, Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition [eritheia] or vain conceit [kenodoxia], but in humility [tapeinophrosyne] consider others better than yourselves.”
Paul says we are to do nothing (no word should be spoken and no deed done!) out of selfish ambition or vain conceit!
What does he mean by selfish ambition? Paul pens the Greek word eritheia translated "selfish ambition." We have seen this word earlier in Philippians 1:17, “The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.”
This word has in its sight a person who worked for pay; a careerist. This is a person who wants influence and leadership in order to build himself/herself up. The word conjures images of a politician canvassing for office; an image with negative connotations from thousands of years ago. This word points to self-seeking and selfish ambition where as the motive was to advance oneself to an extent that what they perceive as well-intentioned ends justified their means. Paul is highlighting this ungodly motive for the 2nd time in a short letter. We need to hear this; it is that important!
Paul continues with the Greek word kenodoxia which literally means 'empty glory' or 'empty pride'. This word has connotations of someone who gives themselves glory; in other words someone who has delusions of greatness. The problem with delusional people is that they rarely know that about themselves depending on the depth of their self-deception. The devil is the great deceiver and his deception knows no bounds...one of his greatest tools is when he can deceive us about ourselves! That is why it is necessary for us to love one another and hold one another accountable when we feel someone is thinking, speaking, or acting in a conceited manner! It is the most loving thing you can do to confront their empty pride, because this is a battle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities!
Unity is found when we hold one another accountable to the motives of our own hearts. Paul commanded in Galatians 5:26, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Do you find yourself provoking other people in how you communicate or behave? Do you desire something that someone else has? Do you build others up or yourself up?
If we are to have unity within the body of Christ, then we cannot be torn between the unity of the Church, and our own selfishness or pride. Our message is tainted when there is any other motive than love, forgiveness, and reconciliation to the body of Christ!
UNITY IS HARD WORK FROM THE INSIDE OUT! And we must be aware of our own feelings and motives. You may think that you are building unity with what you are saying and doing, but you must look at the fruit of your actions! Who is your focus?
Paul continues by saying, "in humility [tapeinophrosyne] consider others better than yourselves." Paul speaks to the heart of unity--let your mindset toward others be humble and that means a total lifestyle of humility! Paul is building up to the triumphant Christ hymn of verses 6-11 where he describes the lifestyle of humility of Jesus Christ visibly displayed in his ravaged body on the Cross of Calvary so that you and I, and all the world, can be reconciled to God. The Cross is the center of history and the focus of our faith and fellowship!
Paul directs in Ephesians 4:2, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
What is humility? Humility is a word we hear a lot, especially in Christian circles. But what does it mean? The Greco-Roman world that Paul was writing in generally did not see humility as a virtue, but as a shortcoming. Biblically, humility is shown in a person's ability to rest their situation with God rather than trusting their own strength and schemes. We are not talking false modesty where we attempt to appear humble because in looking humble we think we look good. No! A humble person does not direct his/her attention on him/herself at all; rather a humble person knows who he is in relationship to God; God is God and I am not; therefore I am completely dependent on God. It is God that I trust, not myself! Humility requires that we have a sober estimate of ourselves, knowing both our weaknesses and our strengths, but not making either too much or too little out of either.
Humility is not self-focused, but looks to the interests of others! The Apostle Peter commands in 1 Peter 5:5b “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
Humility is directional! Pride directs its attention at itself whereas humility directs its attention at others!
This is not just a command from the Apostles, this is the very attitude of Jesus Christ. This is how Jesus Christ was able to carry our burden upon the Cross so that we can have eternal life. He bore our punishment because he looked to our interests! Jesus Christ has an attitude that saves! Our attitude should reflect His attitude!
Humility is not only seen in the quality of Jesus' life, but he clearly teaches about what humility looks like and the results of a humble life. From Luke 14:10-11, “But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus is teaching us that in looking after the interest of others before our own that we will be exalted. But, if we take the seat of honor thinking we deserve it, then we will be humbled by God! How does this apply to you and me today? How does this apply to how we conduct ourselves as God's Church?
If God's house is the house of reconciliation, then we must be open to fellowship with every person who sincerely calls upon the name of Jesus Christ; regardless of what they look like, how they dress, what they smell like, how many tats and piercings they have, regardless! We must be humble and not see ourselves as better than anyone else because of our temporary status on this earth. We must love one another and not see ourselves as more important because of some man-made cultural division. As Paul taught the Romans who judged other people severely for not being Roman citizens, who classified people according to their worldly status, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited" (Romans 12:16).
The church should not be disunited by the things that bring disunity to the rest of the world. The cure for disunity is humility! How do you see yourself? How do you see other people?
But it is not enough to have the antidote to disunity. We must then build the unity of the Church and that has 2 requirements: First, UNITY REQUIRES LOVE!
Colossians 3:14 states, "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." It is only in love that we can be united in the obedient life as intentional followers of Jesus Christ. Without love we have nothing! We must know what is most important in this life! It is not my or your degrees, my or your accomplishments, nor even my or your head knowledge that is important!
What we should deeply care about the most is our love for one another! This is how the world will know that we are followers of Jesus Christ!
In Philippians 2:4, Paul defines what a humble life looks like, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
The humble life is a life of love! Paul teaches us about love in 1 Corinthians 13:5, “[Love] is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
Unity requires this depth of love that captures the heart of humility, the attitude of Jesus Christ. This is the depth of love that causes us to do as Jesus Christ did--we have to put our interests aside so that people can be saved through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That means we may not get to do or say everything we want or even think we are rightly justified to say or do.
Paul teaches this sacrificial lesson in 1 Corinthians 10:32-33, “Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved."
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we are to be a house of reconciliation then we must act in love toward others. Asking: Am I showing this person the love and grace of God? Am I forgiving them as Christ forgave me? Am I willing to put aside what I want, to help this person know and experience the love of God?
And that leads us to the second requirement! UNITY REQUIRES AN ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT!
Paul unapologetically declares, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
Unity requires you to be born again because if you continue to think the same as you once did, hold the same values as you once did; prefer the life that you once had, then we will never experience unity! This is especially difficult for people who grew up in the church and cannot make a distinction between their culture and the gospel of Jesus Christ!
The fruit of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is life transformation! When we ask Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior we are given the Holy Spirit and we are forever changed in our core being. We become children of God and that requires us to be different from those who have not yet been saved by grace. We cannot be conformed to the image of culture and the image of Christ at the same time!
Listen to the words of Jesus Christ found in the Gospel of Matthew 20:25-29, "Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’"
Unity requires an attitude adjustment because Jesus Christ has commanded us, "Not so with you!" We are not to lord over the world the gift of our faith; the grace and love that forever secured us in the hands of God that we may be His children. We are God's chosen children because of the humility of Jesus Christ to unite us to the Father through the Cross!
If your life has been transformed by the gospel of reconciliation, then you must be united to the body of Christ. You cannot let your secular-sensibilities and cultural-characteristics determine your attitude toward other Christ-followers.
You must take on the attitude of Jesus Christ who as the Christ hymn proclaims, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should 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" (Philippians 2:6-11).
Who do you say Jesus Christ is? The eternal word of God states that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Today is the day for salvation! You may never get another chance to receive eternal life. Pray with me to receive this gift.
Altar Call and Response Time
"Jesus Christ must become greater; I must become less." - John 3:30
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