Scripture Philippians 2:1-11
Listen link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
Come and See. Look what Billy did! Watch what I can do. Videos of amazing feats of strength, agility and magic are all over Facebook. So are the funny mishaps and accidents. We love to see for ourselves what is going on in the world around us. Demonstrations mean a lot to us. Seeing is believing right?
If seeing is believing, then it would be good for us to look at today’s text and see what Jesus Christ has done for us. I am going to talk about 4 things Christ has done for us that we need to see. First, I’ll just list them out. Then we’ll explore the depths. Here are the four things that this text tells us Christ has done that we need to see for ourselves.
1. Christ has revealed that we are united in him and he is in us. 2. Christ has revealed the mind of God. 3. Christ used a particular method to unite us with God and reveal God’s mind. And 4. Christ has arisen unto victory and exaltation and glory!
Now let’s get started. Verses 1 & 2 say this: 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, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love. Now the Greek there doesn’t really leave any room for “if” as if you might not have the encouragement, comfort, or sharing Paul is speaking of. It could really be better translated “since you do have,” or “because” you have these things, take full advantage of the results and exemplify the same characteristics that we see in God, thinking the way Jesus does and loving others the way Jesus does.
In verse one there is where we see the first item on our list, that Christ has revealed the unified relationship of the Godhead, that he shares with us and invites us into. Paul says, “Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ.” He says that being united with Christ IS a Christian reality and that that reality ought to encourage us to live a certain way. Recall Jesus’ words in John 17:11, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” And then in John 17:20-23, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
You see what Christ has done there? When he said, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you,” Jesus was talking about the unity and the perfectly harmonious relationships that exist between the members of the Trinity! And there is some real way in which we get to participate in that when we are in Christ through faith. Our unity is not “sort of like” how God is in Jesus and Jesus is in God. Jesus said it is “just as,” or exactly like the way that they are in each other. We get to be in them just as they are in us! That doesn’t make us divine, so that that we become God, or even “like” God. We’re still just created humans. But it does make us vitally and deeply connected to God and each other in the same way that God the Father and God the Son are vitally and deeply connected to each other.
That unity is God’s provision for a deep and painful need many people are experiencing today. A lot of people in our world are lonely and isolated. It is one of the saddest epidemics of our modern lives, especially when things like Facebook were supposed to make us more connected and gives a false impression that we are. But it can actually end up isolating us even further by keeping us wrapped up in our own little worlds, dependent upon how many likes and comments we get for posting. Then there’s the problem of hiding your suffering and only posting false positives to get more likes. Add to that the modern crisis of cyber bullying and you can see why we need more than ever to understand the beauty of true face to face community and belonging. You see what Christ has done for you there? You are not alone in this world! You belong to somebody. You belong to God. And we belong to each other. Let’s live that out and invite the young people into our lives, too.
That sense of unity really ought to encourage us to fulfill Paul’s request: “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 the others.”
Okay so if we’re supposed to be of one mind, united, which mind would you choose to emulate? The answer is given in the next verses of Paul’s writing. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” And then we get to number 2 on our list. Christ has revealed the mind of God. Let’s see what Christ has done.
He is God. He has everything. He needs nothing. But there is something he wants. This want is what Jesus has revealed about the mind of God. God wants a relationship with you in which you are in him and he is in you and you belong to each other completely. Now you would think that the all-powerful God can have whatever he wants any way he chooses to get it. But, if His revealed want is for you to love him, can he force you to do that? He could make you act like you love him, by turning you into a puppet, or a robot. But is that really love? No, we all realize that love must be offered freely and cannot be coerced.
The mind of God is revealed to be love. He loves you freely and desires that you would love him back freely, because you want to, not because you have to. In the same way that he didn’t have to die for you but he did, he hopes that you will be so moved by his love for you that you will want to love him back, and live for him because he died for you. There is no better way to be united with God, than to be loved! See what Christ has done. He has revealed the mind of God to be one that is merciful and kind and gracious, the very best of love. Now the way he has revealed that comes in to our third point on the list. The third thing was, Christ’s method to unite us with God and reveal God’s mind.
See what Christ has done! This was his method. He humbled himself to show up as a man, dwell among us, lower himself unto slavery, and offer himself as a sacrifice to save us. What wondrous love is this! It reminds me of the story of the man who didn’t care at all about God or the gospel until that stormy winter day when he was home alone, and suddenly heard a tapping sound in his picture window. It turns out that a whole flock of birds was desperately seeking shelter from the storm. They were bumping into his window trying to get in. The man felt sorry for the birds and wished he could get them to take shelter in his barn. He opened the door and tried to show them the way, but they were afraid of him and could not understand what he was trying to accomplish. They always scattered in every direction, no matter how he tried to help, his methods failed.
It dawned on him that if he could just become a bird like them, he could lead them into the barn. And in the very next moment he suddenly realized, that’s what Jesus method had been! He had become a man so that ordinary humans could understand what God really wanted for them and instead of running from God in fear of judgement they could take shelter in him! The man thought, if he could have compassion on the birds, surely, God would have compassion on those who were made in his image.
And Jesus’ method was so much more than just to lead the way to safety. We know that Jesus became the way by dying in our place and suffering the just punishment for our sinful rebellion. Some say that if God is all powerful, he could forgive sins just by announcing it. He didn’t have to die for that. He could just say the word, as he did to create the universe. He could he just say the word, “You are forgiven.” But we all know that the height of love, its highest expression is self-sacrifice. And if what’s revealed is what God was wanting, for us to know how much He loves us, then what better way is there than for he himself to sacrifice his own glory, his mighty power, his omniscience and his omnipresence to become a man, and then as a man to sacrifice his dignity and serve as a slave, and then the ultimate self-sacrifice, his human life, to die in our place? This is the method of God, to become like us, to sacrifice Himself for us, to reveal Himself to us.
And in verse 5 we are asked to have the same mindset as Jesus, to follow his method so that we too can reveal God’s mind to others. What was that method? To serve and to save, to have compassion for those less fortunate than him, to sacrifice some of his riches in order to spend himself on saving the lost ones, you and me, everyone. What happens in us as we use God’s method? We will also want to show compassion to the less fortunate. We will also make sacrifices to serve and to save the less fortunate in whatever way we can.
We do that at home by caring about people around us as in our food pantry ministry. We also have opportunity to reach around the world and sponsor a child for as little as $38/month to give them a chance to escape the grip of poverty that holds so many captive. We cannot help them all, we are not God, but it is good to help all we can to be united with God.
Think of this. Every believer in the entire body of Christ was in a way sponsored by Christ through the tremendous price he paid on the cross so that we could escape the deadly grip of spiritual poverty and sin. Through the compassion of Jesus, we are lifted up from the pit and set free from death. Do you see what Christ has done? Can we do a little of that with the resources we have in him? He expects us to! I have some pictures right here of children who need somebody to sponsor them into education and health and out of poverty. And we’ll share more of these at the movie tonight. Pray and ask God if he wants you to sponsor a child today.
At this point, it is very tempting for me to ask one or more of you, by name, to respond right now, on whether or not you are willing to sponsor a child today. I bet I made you nervous right there, or maybe, that was God tapping on your heart.
See what Christ has done. He offered himself as a sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice to take away the sins of the world, and to call a people to himself, made holy, spotless and clean by his offering of himself on our behalf. And his reward is, Christ has arisen unto victory and exaltation and glory! That’s the fourth point in our list. Christ’s exaltation and victory! We see Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That is the foundation of our faith. It is an historical reality. Not a myth not a legend.
The disciples of Jesus, who were terrified that the Jews would come after them next, were hiding behind a locked door in the upper room. But they became courageous and bold in the faith, even exalted and victorious, once they met the risen Lord and received the Holy Spirit. For them seeing truly was believing! And not just Thomas, but every last one of the first disciples only believed in the resurrection of Jesus after they actually met him in the flesh, and they touched him, and he ate with them to prove he was not a ghost. Only then did they know and believed that Jesus truly had conquered death! See what Christ has done! For them seeing was believing. And Jesus said we are more blessed who believe their testimonies, without seeing Jesus in the flesh. But we see it by faith, and in the spirit.
He is risen from the dead, exalted and victorious! And we are assured in Ephesians 1:19, that the same power, that mighty strength God exerted when he raised Christ from the dead, is also his incomparably great power at work in us who believe. See what Christ has done! He has shared his power for living with all of us who are members of His body through faith in his gospel. In our unity with Christ, following his method as he revealed to us, we too will be victorious.
The text we have before us today then is given to affirm our unity in Christ, and to encourage you to live out of that. It is not that you become that one day. You already are alive and united in Christ the moment you believe. It is not just that you make any effort in your own strength to imitate the character of Christ. You can’t in your own strength. But when you see and believe what Christ has revealed, that method of Christ can be employed in your life to come, in the next moments, the next days, the next years and finally, the next life.
I am a child of God. God is revealed to me by Christ. I have the Holy Spirit in me to unite me to Jesus and the Father. I am loved forevermore! I am guided by the Holy Spirit to live in Christ. I am accepted, and I am changed. I am forgiven and free, victorious. And all of you are children of God through faith in Jesus. God is revealed to you by Christ. You have the Holy Spirit in you to unite you to Jesus and the Father and the rest of the body of Christ. You are loved forevermore! You are guided by the Holy Spirit to live in Christ. You are accepted, and you are changed. You are forgiven and free, victorious! See what Christ has done!
And all of that reality is what we remember, review and celebrate when we come to the communion table. Today is a special observance. Today is World Communion Sunday. But let us turn to the Lord. Allow me to lead us in a prayer that will help us prepare to participate in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, that we may taste and see all that Christ has done for us. Amen.
Listen link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
Come and See. Look what Billy did! Watch what I can do. Videos of amazing feats of strength, agility and magic are all over Facebook. So are the funny mishaps and accidents. We love to see for ourselves what is going on in the world around us. Demonstrations mean a lot to us. Seeing is believing right?
If seeing is believing, then it would be good for us to look at today’s text and see what Jesus Christ has done for us. I am going to talk about 4 things Christ has done for us that we need to see. First, I’ll just list them out. Then we’ll explore the depths. Here are the four things that this text tells us Christ has done that we need to see for ourselves.
1. Christ has revealed that we are united in him and he is in us. 2. Christ has revealed the mind of God. 3. Christ used a particular method to unite us with God and reveal God’s mind. And 4. Christ has arisen unto victory and exaltation and glory!
Now let’s get started. Verses 1 & 2 say this: 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, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love. Now the Greek there doesn’t really leave any room for “if” as if you might not have the encouragement, comfort, or sharing Paul is speaking of. It could really be better translated “since you do have,” or “because” you have these things, take full advantage of the results and exemplify the same characteristics that we see in God, thinking the way Jesus does and loving others the way Jesus does.
In verse one there is where we see the first item on our list, that Christ has revealed the unified relationship of the Godhead, that he shares with us and invites us into. Paul says, “Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ.” He says that being united with Christ IS a Christian reality and that that reality ought to encourage us to live a certain way. Recall Jesus’ words in John 17:11, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” And then in John 17:20-23, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
You see what Christ has done there? When he said, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you,” Jesus was talking about the unity and the perfectly harmonious relationships that exist between the members of the Trinity! And there is some real way in which we get to participate in that when we are in Christ through faith. Our unity is not “sort of like” how God is in Jesus and Jesus is in God. Jesus said it is “just as,” or exactly like the way that they are in each other. We get to be in them just as they are in us! That doesn’t make us divine, so that that we become God, or even “like” God. We’re still just created humans. But it does make us vitally and deeply connected to God and each other in the same way that God the Father and God the Son are vitally and deeply connected to each other.
That unity is God’s provision for a deep and painful need many people are experiencing today. A lot of people in our world are lonely and isolated. It is one of the saddest epidemics of our modern lives, especially when things like Facebook were supposed to make us more connected and gives a false impression that we are. But it can actually end up isolating us even further by keeping us wrapped up in our own little worlds, dependent upon how many likes and comments we get for posting. Then there’s the problem of hiding your suffering and only posting false positives to get more likes. Add to that the modern crisis of cyber bullying and you can see why we need more than ever to understand the beauty of true face to face community and belonging. You see what Christ has done for you there? You are not alone in this world! You belong to somebody. You belong to God. And we belong to each other. Let’s live that out and invite the young people into our lives, too.
That sense of unity really ought to encourage us to fulfill Paul’s request: “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 the others.”
Okay so if we’re supposed to be of one mind, united, which mind would you choose to emulate? The answer is given in the next verses of Paul’s writing. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” And then we get to number 2 on our list. Christ has revealed the mind of God. Let’s see what Christ has done.
He is God. He has everything. He needs nothing. But there is something he wants. This want is what Jesus has revealed about the mind of God. God wants a relationship with you in which you are in him and he is in you and you belong to each other completely. Now you would think that the all-powerful God can have whatever he wants any way he chooses to get it. But, if His revealed want is for you to love him, can he force you to do that? He could make you act like you love him, by turning you into a puppet, or a robot. But is that really love? No, we all realize that love must be offered freely and cannot be coerced.
The mind of God is revealed to be love. He loves you freely and desires that you would love him back freely, because you want to, not because you have to. In the same way that he didn’t have to die for you but he did, he hopes that you will be so moved by his love for you that you will want to love him back, and live for him because he died for you. There is no better way to be united with God, than to be loved! See what Christ has done. He has revealed the mind of God to be one that is merciful and kind and gracious, the very best of love. Now the way he has revealed that comes in to our third point on the list. The third thing was, Christ’s method to unite us with God and reveal God’s mind.
See what Christ has done! This was his method. He humbled himself to show up as a man, dwell among us, lower himself unto slavery, and offer himself as a sacrifice to save us. What wondrous love is this! It reminds me of the story of the man who didn’t care at all about God or the gospel until that stormy winter day when he was home alone, and suddenly heard a tapping sound in his picture window. It turns out that a whole flock of birds was desperately seeking shelter from the storm. They were bumping into his window trying to get in. The man felt sorry for the birds and wished he could get them to take shelter in his barn. He opened the door and tried to show them the way, but they were afraid of him and could not understand what he was trying to accomplish. They always scattered in every direction, no matter how he tried to help, his methods failed.
It dawned on him that if he could just become a bird like them, he could lead them into the barn. And in the very next moment he suddenly realized, that’s what Jesus method had been! He had become a man so that ordinary humans could understand what God really wanted for them and instead of running from God in fear of judgement they could take shelter in him! The man thought, if he could have compassion on the birds, surely, God would have compassion on those who were made in his image.
And Jesus’ method was so much more than just to lead the way to safety. We know that Jesus became the way by dying in our place and suffering the just punishment for our sinful rebellion. Some say that if God is all powerful, he could forgive sins just by announcing it. He didn’t have to die for that. He could just say the word, as he did to create the universe. He could he just say the word, “You are forgiven.” But we all know that the height of love, its highest expression is self-sacrifice. And if what’s revealed is what God was wanting, for us to know how much He loves us, then what better way is there than for he himself to sacrifice his own glory, his mighty power, his omniscience and his omnipresence to become a man, and then as a man to sacrifice his dignity and serve as a slave, and then the ultimate self-sacrifice, his human life, to die in our place? This is the method of God, to become like us, to sacrifice Himself for us, to reveal Himself to us.
And in verse 5 we are asked to have the same mindset as Jesus, to follow his method so that we too can reveal God’s mind to others. What was that method? To serve and to save, to have compassion for those less fortunate than him, to sacrifice some of his riches in order to spend himself on saving the lost ones, you and me, everyone. What happens in us as we use God’s method? We will also want to show compassion to the less fortunate. We will also make sacrifices to serve and to save the less fortunate in whatever way we can.
We do that at home by caring about people around us as in our food pantry ministry. We also have opportunity to reach around the world and sponsor a child for as little as $38/month to give them a chance to escape the grip of poverty that holds so many captive. We cannot help them all, we are not God, but it is good to help all we can to be united with God.
Think of this. Every believer in the entire body of Christ was in a way sponsored by Christ through the tremendous price he paid on the cross so that we could escape the deadly grip of spiritual poverty and sin. Through the compassion of Jesus, we are lifted up from the pit and set free from death. Do you see what Christ has done? Can we do a little of that with the resources we have in him? He expects us to! I have some pictures right here of children who need somebody to sponsor them into education and health and out of poverty. And we’ll share more of these at the movie tonight. Pray and ask God if he wants you to sponsor a child today.
At this point, it is very tempting for me to ask one or more of you, by name, to respond right now, on whether or not you are willing to sponsor a child today. I bet I made you nervous right there, or maybe, that was God tapping on your heart.
See what Christ has done. He offered himself as a sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice to take away the sins of the world, and to call a people to himself, made holy, spotless and clean by his offering of himself on our behalf. And his reward is, Christ has arisen unto victory and exaltation and glory! That’s the fourth point in our list. Christ’s exaltation and victory! We see Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That is the foundation of our faith. It is an historical reality. Not a myth not a legend.
The disciples of Jesus, who were terrified that the Jews would come after them next, were hiding behind a locked door in the upper room. But they became courageous and bold in the faith, even exalted and victorious, once they met the risen Lord and received the Holy Spirit. For them seeing truly was believing! And not just Thomas, but every last one of the first disciples only believed in the resurrection of Jesus after they actually met him in the flesh, and they touched him, and he ate with them to prove he was not a ghost. Only then did they know and believed that Jesus truly had conquered death! See what Christ has done! For them seeing was believing. And Jesus said we are more blessed who believe their testimonies, without seeing Jesus in the flesh. But we see it by faith, and in the spirit.
He is risen from the dead, exalted and victorious! And we are assured in Ephesians 1:19, that the same power, that mighty strength God exerted when he raised Christ from the dead, is also his incomparably great power at work in us who believe. See what Christ has done! He has shared his power for living with all of us who are members of His body through faith in his gospel. In our unity with Christ, following his method as he revealed to us, we too will be victorious.
The text we have before us today then is given to affirm our unity in Christ, and to encourage you to live out of that. It is not that you become that one day. You already are alive and united in Christ the moment you believe. It is not just that you make any effort in your own strength to imitate the character of Christ. You can’t in your own strength. But when you see and believe what Christ has revealed, that method of Christ can be employed in your life to come, in the next moments, the next days, the next years and finally, the next life.
I am a child of God. God is revealed to me by Christ. I have the Holy Spirit in me to unite me to Jesus and the Father. I am loved forevermore! I am guided by the Holy Spirit to live in Christ. I am accepted, and I am changed. I am forgiven and free, victorious. And all of you are children of God through faith in Jesus. God is revealed to you by Christ. You have the Holy Spirit in you to unite you to Jesus and the Father and the rest of the body of Christ. You are loved forevermore! You are guided by the Holy Spirit to live in Christ. You are accepted, and you are changed. You are forgiven and free, victorious! See what Christ has done!
And all of that reality is what we remember, review and celebrate when we come to the communion table. Today is a special observance. Today is World Communion Sunday. But let us turn to the Lord. Allow me to lead us in a prayer that will help us prepare to participate in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, that we may taste and see all that Christ has done for us. Amen.
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