Philippians 2:1-4 (Unity Over Ego)

We open Philippians 2:1-4 and face the internal pressures that can quietly tear a church apart even when outside pressure is high. We call ourselves to Spirit-shaped humility that treats others as significant so our unity becomes worship and our mission stays clear. 
• connecting Philippians 1 and 2 through Paul’s “therefore” 
• unity as a gospel-worthy way of life 
• disunity as an internal pressure that undermines the church 
• real-world church conflict and how small issues escalate 
• Paul’s blunt command against selfish ambition and conceit 
• humility as making others a true priority 
• balancing our interests with care for others 
• rejecting consumer Christianity in favor of mutual service 
• unity as kingdom work empowered by the Holy Spirit 
• closing prayer for humility, love, and a unified church 

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Transcript

A Different Kind Of Sunday

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Well, happy Sunday, folks. Obviously, this is a little different. I was gonna film something, but honestly, I'm having a hard time moving my neck and my back, so it just looks awkward on the camera. So I will throw some slides on the screen as we go along through our sermon today. And hopefully that will be enough to keep your attention. We're in Philippians chapter two, but the first several verses of chapter two are directly connected to the last verses of chapter one. And last week we talked about Paul's transition from himself and the things that were happening around him to the Philippian church. And in that transition is a command to the church to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. Stay firm together, be unified, which we will talk about this week. Don't be frightened by the pressure that you're facing from the outside, but believe that the persecution and suffering that you're facing is actually a sign that God is at work and God is faithful to complete that work. I'll get to the reading of the scripture in just a second. But Paul connects what we are going to read today to what we read last week with the word therefore or the word so, depending on the translation. It's like if I said, I'm going to go for a hike. I don't have the address, but if you follow me, we will get there. If you don't, you won't.

Why Paul Says Therefore

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Right? It's connected. Or it'd be like if I said, I'm watching a series of YouTube videos to teach myself how to change the brakes on my truck. Therefore, I don't have to go to the mechanic to do it for me. So you see, it it connects the sentences, it connects the ideas. This is common sense. I just want to make sure you understand that as we dive in to God's word today in Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. If the first section of verses we talked about last week focused on the external pressure the Philippian church was facing, then this set of verses that we just read, it addresses the internal pressure. It addresses the disunity, the potential of disunity that might be undermining the church's effectiveness. It is so often in the church world that we are our own worst enemies. Just from a pastoral perspective, I can recall quite a few moments when church leadership created the very problem

Unity Threatened From The Inside

SPEAKER_00 3:28

they were stressed out about or complaining about behind closed doors. How many drama-filled moments have been the product of one single person? And also that one person happens to be the person complaining about the drama the most. I'm sure we all have our own stories, church stories that point us to this problem of disunity. I remember, and I won't name names, but when the church I grew up in moved church buildings, the person who had sort of controlled the old church kitchen had taken care of it. Of course, everybody used it, but there was one person who really took responsibility for that kitchen. They were not given that same responsibility in the new kitchen. Things changed, and there was a lot of back and forth, a bit of bickering, a bit of drama, silliness. Granted, it didn't harm the church, but it certainly wasn't productive. And of course, we all hear about the failures of churches all the time, church leaders, big churches, small churches, but the news and social media, they love to highlight the failures of big churches. It gets plastered across social media. Now, I will say this: some might believe that in smaller churches, it's easier to avoid things like that. But I can assure you that issues crop up in small churches just like they crop up in large ones. And there's really no difference except for exposure. There's more people there, so more people experience it. And it really causes damage and it really tears the church apart. It does damage in the communities that they're in. But unity is a struggle. It seems that everybody sometimes has their own agenda and they're pulling this way and that way. And it can be absolutely discouraging to see and to live through. It can be discouraging to look back at a situation and realize that wait a second, was I part of that dysfunction? Was I part of that issue? In a world that has plenty of people working against us, I think we ought to do a better job of not aiding the enemy by standing against one another. Gotta do it. We have to be unified. And here's the good news the modern church is not new in dealing with issues of selfishness and drama and issues of disunity. From the very start of the church, people's selfishness and their attitudes created division. And to the problem of disunity in the Philippian church, Paul uses highly prescriptive language here to address the issue. He gives clear instruction: do this, do that, don't do this. This is the right way, this is the right attitude. There's no other way, there's no in between. Now, some people, for whatever reason, they're not great at accepting this sort of blunt instruction. It grates against the individualist attitude that people develop. So before we really dig into this, I want to take a deep breath and make sure we get over ourselves with the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and absorb godly direct instruction on how we are to behave and act in a church. Paul says here in the scripture, if what I have been talking about is true, again, this is connected to what he's been talking about the past couple of weeks, if any of that is true, if there is any encouragement to be had in the Savior, which we know there is, if there's any comfort in God's love and Paul's love, the church's love for one another, and there is comfort in that, if there is this connection with the same spirit and any shared affection between me, uh Paul, and you, then why don't you as a church finish my joy, right? This joy that I've spent a good amount expressing to you, why don't you finish it by being united? The easiest way to make sense of this, uh of what Paul is saying is to stick an if in front of every one of those clauses, right? And it ends up being a bit rhetorical because we know, we know there's encouragement in the Savior. We know that there is comfort in God's love and in love in general for one another. And so you stick an if in front of those clauses there, and we see that he's being rhetorical, pointing to towards something. If all of those things are true and you believe them and you know them, well, why don't we keep this going and start walking

Complete My Joy Through Unity

SPEAKER_00 8:18

in unity, be unified together, complete my joy? Don't make me waste my time. Don't make me waste my words. If those things are true, don't stop there, keep going to a unified mission, a unified pursuit of sharing the gospel in a church. We have to be unified. How? How? If it's that simple, why do we have all these examples of churches not being united? Why can I recall in my mind, and probably you can recall in your mind, a million different things of disunity in a church? Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Selfish ambition. We know what that is. Even if you don't know the Webster's definition of those two things, we can combine them and we get it. People have desires for their lives, and sometimes they will do anything to achieve those goals and those desires, no matter what the cost to those around them. Selfish ambition. And of course, we know what conceit is. What being conceited is. It's being arrogant, selfish, it's all wrapped up in the fixation on ourselves. And those two things have no place in Christianity. They stand in contrast to the humility that we must have in order to give proper significance to others. This word humility is gonna gain a deeper sense of meaning as we continue to read Philippians. But humility is simply thinking less of yourself in any context. Now we've got to have humility. And significance here, of course, is priority. It signifies a place in your mind and in your heart.

unknown 10:27

Right?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

My family is significant to me, so I spend time thinking about them, doing things for them. The church, I love the church. The church is significant to me, so I take time to preach, to teach, to study because I love the church and it's significant for me. In our lives. In the church, as family members, as husbands, as as as wives, parents, we have to fight for humility. We have to fight for humility. If we can be humble, it will pave the way to avoid unnecessary conflict in the church. And if you can make someone else significant in your life besides yourself, it will radically change how this church functions. Of course, I truly believe I'm preaching to the choir right now. For those of you who are part of the church, right? You guys are great. I love you. I'm not trying to correct you, I'm trying to encourage you. You guys, I think, do this already. You are humble, you make other people significant, and I just celebrate you for that. But it's a battle to always do that, never take it for granted. Now, someone might say to this idea that others have a level of priority in your life. They might say to that, if if I'm focused on other people, who's gonna take care of me?

Killing Selfish Ambition With Humility

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Fair question. First, in a very spiritual and practical sense, God is faithful to take care of you. He's looking out for you. So as you serve others, he will take care of you even if no one else is. All right? He will do that. But also, I got to point out that this does not say we don't have an eye on our own interest. That's not what it's saying. But only that you ought to also have an eye on others as well. There's absolutely nothing wrong with knowing what you want, what you like. There's nothing wrong with having a goal or preference or a vision for your life, but we have to balance that with keeping a space open for others. Thankfully, over time, as we develop as Christians and we continue to walk into the discipleship process and we mature, what we desire as a church, individual Christians united together as a church, what we desire will overlap. So it becomes incredibly easy to pursue what someone else wants because it's what we want as well. That's the beautiful thing about the fruit of the Spirit. It's a beautiful thing about having a set goal from God and the Great Commission. Over time, those things become what matters, and it becomes easy to pursue those things together because it's what we all want. But here's a different way of thinking about this. If I were to walk into a church seeking to be served and seeking to get what I want, I would be a consumer at your expense. And if you were to walk in here seeking to be served to get what you want, you would be a consumer at my cost. And I'll go ahead and tell you the equation on that math problem doesn't work out too well. If I walk in with my preferences, but I also walk in with a heart for yours, and you do the same, there will be a level of service to one another that is enjoyable and sustainable. Instead of two pumps drawing water from the same well at the same time, we can develop a rhythm where the well doesn't run dry.

From Consumer To Mutual Service

SPEAKER_00 14:38

I can pump water out while you pump water in, and then we can reverse it. There's a balance to it. You pour into me, I pour into you. It goes on and on and on. And more importantly, for this entire conversation, this unity serves an eternal purpose. We are doing church together as service and worship to God. We're doing this for the kingdom of God. In fact, it's only through God that we can set aside our selfish nature and do this as worship and service to God through the work of the Holy Spirit, through the fruit of the Spirit. That's what really enables us to do this. Put away selfish ambition and conceit. Put it away. Push it away. Kill it in your life. Ask God for humility because only He can give it. Change your mindset. Ask Him to change your mindset because only He will do it. And arrive at a powerful unity together that grows the church, that spreads the gospel, that shines light on darkness, that's salt to the world. Be unified. Be unified. It is such a struggle in this day and age, in the world that we live in, to truly humble ourselves and to look out for others. But we have to. We have to. Many of us know that we ought to. Many of us have felt at times before in our lives, I'm sure, that that we were not, I guess we were not looking out for other people, that we were totally fixated on ourselves. I'm sure you felt that before. And maybe you felt helpless to figuring out what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to fix this? Well, I'll go ahead and tell you right now, it's the Holy Spirit in your life telling you there's a better and different way. The Holy Spirit's telling you that selfishness is not the way. And so just as the Holy Spirit's telling you that there's a better way, he also enables you. Through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, you can truly put on humility and you can truly start thinking of others. Just like you would think of yourself, your own kids, your own spouse. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you, we thank you. You are awesome and you are mighty. And I simply pray and hope that you would birth inside our lives a desire for humility and service.

Holy Spirit Help And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Break down selfishness, break down conceit, and replace it with your love, your love for us, which inspires us to love others, Lord. I pray that we would be a unified church. A church that loves to serve one another. A church that uh doesn't cause problems for ourselves, Lord. We don't need any extra help causing problems, Lord. Lord, we simply ask that your Holy Spirit, even right now, right where we are, wherever we are listening to this, I pray that you would just give us humility and give us a heart for others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much. I know this is different, but I look forward to being with you in in person again next week.