Some of you have been exploring the claims of Jesus quite some time. You're like a Sunday meal, that's been simmering all night long in the crockpot. You're like the fall harvest, waiting to be gleaned, with winter knocking on the door. There was a point where Jesus just flat out asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" It's a question whose answer matters for eternity... and has extraordinary implications for today.
For Paul the essence of living was Christ (show Philippians 1:21). To live is Christ. To live is serving Jesus, it means fruitful labor, it means absolutely nothing about my life gets wasted. In Philippians 3:18-19 Paul describes a wasted life. He says, "For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things."
What's your destiny? Maybe these words describe your life. You're shriveling up in the crockpot. You're about to cast your fruit. Up until now, your life has been a total loss for God's kingdom. You've been unmoved by God's love, expressed in his kindness in Christ Jesus. How long can a person go being an enemy of the cross of Christ? What more than the cross can God do to capture your heart?
In Philippians 3:20-21 Paul describes a redeemed life, "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies, so that they will be like his glorious body."
If you trust Jesus, nothing is wasted. A whole new life, filled with hope, opens to you. For you, to live is Christ, and even dying is gain!
If you're decision is to live for Christ, your next step is baptism. It only takes one sinner, responding to Jesus' love, to incite riotous praise in heaven! Why not fill out your decision card and mark, "I'm ready to be baptized!" In baptism you lay down your old life. Christ's blood washes away all your sins. By his Holy Spirit, God raises you to live a new life, and fills you with the fruit of his righteousness. Today, salvation can come to your house, if you'd just respond to Jesus' love shown on cross.
Most of us started responding to Christ's love long ago. We were baptized, given God's Holy Spirit, and added by Christ to this thing called the Church. The church is the body of Christ. We're members of one another and Christ himself. We're the family of God, brothers and sisters, citizens of God's Kingdom. In Christ... we're becoming a radically new people.
At first we were wooed, redeemed by Jesus love. But now, we're being shaped by Jesus' kind of love. The love captures us in the beginning, transforms us completely. What does it look like for Christ's kind of love to shape us, to make us Better Together?
In Philippians 2:1-4 Paul says, "Therefore IF you have ANY encouragement from being united with Christ, IF ANY comfort from his love, IF ANY common sharing in the Spirit, IF ANY tenderness and compassion..."
Paul is hooking us up to a cardiograph! IF you have ANY kind of spiritual pulse! "THEN. . . MAKE MY JOY COMPLETE by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus..."
If we're sincere about our faith, there should be a marked change in our life. Quite specifically (and miraculously) we ought to becoming BETTER TOGETHER. JESUS' kind of love ought to be shaping our relationships. Let's consider some of the implications of Jesus kind of love shaping our lives...
Paul Offers A Heart Checkpoint: Are We of One Spirit?
(show verse 2)
Can I just shoot straight? Some of the most loving people I've ever known in life have been Christ followers. But some of the least loving, and most hostile people I've known, have professed to be Christians. In the early church, they could immediately distinguish true from false believers. How did they do that? How did they know?
Its because there is ONE Spirit given to the church. In Galatians 5:22-25 Paul says the "fruit" or "evidence" one has Holy Spirit is "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
These are non-coercible virtues. Only the Spirit van infuse His fruit into our personality. You might be able to fake these things for an hour on Sunday, but you can't fake them all week long. Paul says if you have the Spirit of God, you have crucified the flesh with all is passions and desires. You're keeping in step with the Spirit. You're not going around acting conceited, provoking and envying folks. A conceited person is like plastic fruit placed on the Thanksgiving table. It might look real, but it's hollow, and offers zero spiritual nourishment. If anything it's a choking hazard!
Likewise, you can spot fraudulent fruit in an instant. Paul says, in Galatians 5:17 that the flesh desires "whatever is contrary to the Spirit." In Galatians 5:19-21 Paul even gives examples of fake fruit. It consists of things like, "Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies..."
Which lists best describes you? Which list best describes the people you are influenced by in the church? Paul warns us that if our lives are more reflected in the second list than the first list, we don't inherit the Kingdom of God. In fact, we might not even be saved. How can any of us claim to have received and be in step with the Spirit of Christ, when nothing about our lives reflects anything of the love of Christ, or the fruit of the Spirit?
Some of you are blatantly engaged, and unrepentant about sexual immorality, acting hatefully, stirring up discord, throwing fits of rage, creating factions in the church, getting drunk. You need to do a serious heart check and assess just what spirit governs your life. We have one Spirit, and it's a Spirit of love.
Paul Offers A Mental Checkpoint: Are We of One Mind?
If we're being shaped by Christ's kind of love, we're striving to have one mind... and it's the mind of Christ. In Philippians 4:2, Paul pleads with two women named Euodia and Syntyche to agree with each other, and be of the "same mind in the Lord." We don't know what their argument was about. It was so long ago, it probably doesn't matter any more today than it did 2000 years ago.
From the youngest age I have seen personal conflicts tear churches apart. Here we are telling the world that Christ has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility ... but in the church we can't even talk to each other, agree on anything, or cooperate among ourselves.
Conflict dishonors God, but it also contradicts the message of the cross. In every way, conflict is an affront to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and must be resolved.
Paul's first advice to Eudia and Syntyche is they should make it their goal to agree with one another (4:1). Now typically, we throw our hands in the air, and say, "Let's just agree to disagree." But no, we should "agree to agree!" Agreement is a worthy goal. We should agree to talk, and work things out, and come to a place of common understanding. I'd suspect that 90% of conflicts in the church would be completely eliminated if we would stop triangulating and just talked face-to-face.
So what do we talk about? In Philippians 4:8, Paul says, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." This is a conversation checklist of what we should and shouldn't talk about. In general, if it's not working thinking about, it's not worth speaking about. Our words influence how others think. For this reason, we ought only speak what is true, noble, right, pure, etc.
But sometimes we get stuck. We can't work it out one on one. Paul encourages a "true companion" to help these women work through their conflict (4:3). A true companion isn't a family member, a biased buddy, or an unstable person. It isn't someone weighed down in their own sins. A true companion is a mature person, who cares equally about both parties, who can maintain objectivity, and can speak grace and truth to both parties.
In Matthew 18, a true companion is what Jesus calls a "witness". A witness is a prayerful person, known to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A witness is there to be objective. They aren't emotionally invested in an outcome, but can unplug to weigh things accurately. They are impartial. They know how much God hates favoritism. In contrast, a false companion descends into the conflict, takes sides, and throws gasoline on the fire.
Our first move ought to be to go directly to the person. Our second move is to establish a true companion. In Matthew 18, if the true companion cannot resolve the conflict, Jesus says the matter ought to go the Elders. And if the Elders cannot resolve the matter, only then should it go to the Church!
We can only be better together if we obey Matthew 18/ Philippians 4. Instead of listening, taking sides, we should move aggressively toward making peace. Rebuke someone who is gossiping. We should never gossip about a matter outside the church--its discredits the gospel! We should never gossip to our friends around church, whispering in the hallways and corners, rallying vulnerable people to our cause. We should never go to people who have nothing to do with the matter, or who aren't even in a position to resolve the situation. We should never go to people who are quarrelsome, who have no desire to make peace. Seek out a true companion!
Paul Offers A Relational Checkpoint: Am I Valuing Others?
(show Philippians 2:3-4)
This past week, a guy stopped by Lakeside, who was walk from Fort Wayne to Ferguson, MO. He is wanting to raise awareness about the situation, and encourage people to move toward reconciliation.
He asked us to imagine for a moment, we were having a conflict over an ink pen. So long as were thinking about that pen, the conflict will escalate. You can even break the pen in half, but still the focus is still on the pen. James asks, "What the cause of fights and quarrels? It's when you want something but cannot have it!"
For there to be reconciliation, we have to value something more than the pen. Our focus must shift away from that pen, toward valuing one another. Selfish ambition is wanting something for ourselves even at the expense of the relationship. Vain conceit is valuing ourselves more than the other person. In contrast, humility is looking to the interests of others, not just our interests.
One of the most practical ways we can value others is praying for others. Prayer shifts our focus away from self. If you can focus your prayers on others, you're well on your way toward love. This is why Jesus says prayer for your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. How much more should we pray for one another in the church? Loving, valuing, serving others should be our highest ambition.
Paul Offers A Vertical Checkpoint: Am I Exalting Christ?
No one has ever said it better than John the Baptist. Of Jesus he said, "He must become greater, I must become less."
In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul says, "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus... Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!"
In Philippians 2:17, Paul describes himself, "being poured out like a drink offering" in sacrifice and service to the Philippians faith. In Philippians 2:20, Paul praises Timothy, "I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus."
In Philippians 2:25ff, 30 he praises a man named Ephaphroditus. He is "my brother, co-worker, and fellow messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs... he was ill and almost died... He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me."
We'll never be better together so long as everyone is trying to make a name for themselves. We'll never be better together so long as everyone is jockeying for positions of power, status, and control. We'll never be better together if we only serve when it makes us feel good or look good, or advances us in some way. The call of the church is, "He must become greater, I must become less." Jesus' kind of love must shape our love as a church.
Jesus made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming 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 acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
One Spirit... One Mind... Looking to the interests of others... Exalting Christ.
This is what it means to be shaped by Christ's kind of love.