WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:23.280 Have you ever met a couple who's been married for a long time? 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:26.000 I'm sure you have. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:43.280 But they the thing I think I want to ask you about is have you ever noticed how they they not only speak like each other, but over time they start to think like each other, and sometimes even humorously they can they can even look like each other. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.600 We laugh about it, and it's funny. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:52.159 But really and truly, friends, that's a that's a glorious thing, godly thing. 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:54.719 For that's how God designed marriage, right? 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:02.240 The scriptures teach us that when a man leaves his father and his mother to be united to his wife, the two become one flesh. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:07.200 And a well-married man can find Philippians. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:08.079 There it is. 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:18.079 And a well-married man is a better version of himself and a wife likewise as they become more and more like each other. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.799 Because that's how God made things. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:26.879 Paul tells us then that marriage is a picture of Christ in the church. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:35.599 And so you and I have the best husband ever to be married to and to become more like over time. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:43.599 It's just interesting to me how people change slowly over time as life shapes them. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.400 Marriage and sanctification both have that effect, right? 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:50.079 But so do other things. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:51.120 So do other things. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.359 You've heard it said that you are what you eat. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:54.879 We get that one. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:59.840 But I recently read they become what they worship. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:04.480 They become what they worship. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:10.719 All the peoples of the nations with false gods become more and more like the gods they make in their own image. 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:23.360 And so who you think God is, and specifically what you worship Him for over time shapes you. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.879 It shapes you in so many ways. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:40.080 But the flip slight is also true that how you live, how you speak, or even how you think reveals something deep down of what you truly worship on the inside. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.000 And we're complex people. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:42.960 I get that. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:44.560 It's not always that simple. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:47.599 You can't just go from point A to therefore point B. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:51.280 If you're bald, it doesn't mean you worship a bald God, right? 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.560 It's complicated. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:03:07.520 But I think there's wisdom to be gleaned from this truth that we become what we worship, we grow into who we spend time with, that I think the Apostle Paul is leveraging, maybe even working with on purpose, in our text to Philippians this morning. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:22.000 He reminds the Philippians of the character of their God because he wants to see them change and grow and be transformed and become more like Jesus in the process. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.280 So take your Bibles with me. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.280 Turn to the book of Philippians. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:27.919 We'll start briefly in chapter one. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:43.360 I found it. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:45.120 Forgive me. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:47.759 There we go. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:04:00.080 So in Philippians chapter 1, remember that the occasion for Paul's letter to the Philippians really, in some total, was a thank you letter for a gift they sent him when they heard of his imprisonment in Rome. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:06.159 Paul tells them all about his imprisonment, saying, This has really served to advance the gospel in chapter 1, verse 12. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:10.719 Even if some in Rome are preaching Christ out of selfish ambition in verse 17. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:20.959 And Paul says that he knows that Christ will be glorified even if he dies at the end of this thing, because for Christ for Paul to live as Christ, to die is gain. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.319 That's verse 21. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:32.560 I just think it's incredible that Paul sees in his imprisonment not something to complain about, but something to strengthen the Philippians with as they come to face opposition. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:34.879 So look at the end of chapter 1 and verse 27. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.000 Paul says, only, only. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:43.360 It's the one thing he wants from the Philippians as he sits in chains. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:48.319 They had sent him a gift, because they heard he'd had a hard day, so to speak. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.040 And it's like Paul is saying, Thank you for your gift. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.639 It means a lot, but you know what means the most to me? 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:56.800 What would mean the most to me? 00:04:57.040 --> 00:04:58.240 Verse 27. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:05.519 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.360 Paul just wants things to go well with them. 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:10.240 It's beautiful. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:18.639 He says, stand firm together in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side, arm in arm, so to speak. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.560 And that's what he wants for them. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.079 That's what he wants. 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:23.600 It's a good lesson for us. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:29.040 When the going gets tough, we should stand firm together for the sake of the gospel. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:52.560 And Paul continues to tell them that he knows it's hard, he knows they'll suffer for the sake of Christ, but that because Jesus conquered death, because Jesus was persecuted, and so was Paul for that matter, because of those things, then suffering, the Christians' endurance of suffering for the gospel, becomes a sign of their salvation in verse 28. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:06:06.639 And here in chapter 2, verse 1, Paul picks up on that idea that Jesus and all that he's done for us gives us great encouragement when we face trials of various kinds. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:12.079 So let me read these first two verses of chapter 2, if you'd look at your Bibles with me. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:35.199 Paul says, So if there is 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. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:37.759 It's a beautiful text. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:44.959 One commentator I read this week said that Paul's theological argumentation is brilliant in this passage. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:53.040 And another says that this passage speaks the language of the soaring, unanswerable language of a Bach cantata. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.279 If you know what that is, it's pretty. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:02.720 It's a beautiful, glorious, rich, complex thing, and it's a beautiful, glorious, rich passage. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:07.600 Here's my best take of what the lesson is that it teaches us. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.839 It teaches us that because of Christ, we should be like Christ. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.160 And that will bring us together in Christ. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:19.519 Because of Christ, we should be like Christ. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:22.480 And that will bring us together in Christ. 00:07:22.639 --> 00:07:24.720 Let's look at each one of those phrases one at a time. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:25.920 Verse 1. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:29.680 Because of Christ. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:34.800 I think you can see as we look at it that verse 1 is a list of things, a list of four things. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:40.240 The ESB does a pretty good job of showing us how parallel they are, how much they match. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:44.000 We could take that if there is any and put it on each one of them. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:55.839 If there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any comfort from love, if there is any participation in the Spirit, if there is any affection and sympathy. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:59.279 Of course, the answer, the implication is just, yeah. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:01.120 Those things exist. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:02.240 Yes. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:07.920 Paul says, if there is any encouragement in Christ, and there is, right? 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.920 And you can just feel this giant then coming. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:15.120 If, if, if, if, then. 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:20.480 Paul's laying the groundwork here in verse 1 for his appeal in verse 2. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:31.040 So all these if things, all these ifs, should make us want to complete Paul's joy, be of the same mind, same level, full of cord, and in one mind. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:33.679 That's what all this is pushing towards. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.679 And so then we have to ask, is there any encouragement in Christ? 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:44.720 That little phrase, encouragement in Christ, it refers to the union that believers have with the Messiah. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:46.000 They're in Christ. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:50.399 It's Paul's favorite way to describe what it means to be a Christian. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:56.960 It's the opposite of being in sin or in Adam, like in the book of Romans. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:04.399 In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, Behold, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:17.200 So this is the stuff, this being in Christ is the stuff of being born again, being saved from the wrath to come, adopted into the family of God, raised from spiritual death to everlasting life, and there is so much encouragement there. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:18.240 Is there not? 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:20.480 Of course. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:21.679 More than enough. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:30.240 Christians, therefore, those who are in Christ ought to be the most courage-filled people there are. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:32.480 Because there's encouragement in Christ. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:35.279 John Newton, the pastor and hymn writer, he wrote Amazing Grace. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.039 He says this if the Lord be with us, we have no cause for fear. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:47.200 His eye is upon us, his arm over us, his ear open to our prayer, his grace sufficient, his promise unchangeable. 00:09:47.440 --> 00:09:56.320 Under his protection, though the path of duty should lie through fire and water, we may cheerfully and confidently pursue it. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:00.399 You can do the right thing because Christ is with you. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.799 And you are in Christ. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.320 It's a great comfort. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.240 It's great encouragement to be in Christ. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:11.519 Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear because we are swallowed up. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:16.399 We are baptized into Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit through faith. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.279 That's what it means to be in Christ. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.840 But this whole thing isn't about that, is it? 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:29.679 Something in here is a call to unity, a call to sticking together. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:34.240 We'll see more in verse 2, but you can already feel it, can't you? 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:36.240 Maybe you already knew something. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:43.759 I've been learning recently, but one of the things that drives a lot of division in local churches is panic. 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:48.639 Is panic about the consequences of a decision. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:53.679 Not the decision itself, but panic about the success or fallout of it, maybe. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:58.480 Trying to avoid it, trying to mitigate it, or even trying to make it work in the first place. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:02.240 I knew that was gonna happen if you did that, we say. 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:06.320 Or even I knew that was never going to work. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:09.360 If you think about it. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.679 That's a comment flowing from the fear of man, isn't it? 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:27.440 And you can imagine, if you think about the Philippians, they're just nervously getting after each other, picking at each other about how different members of their congregation may choose to interact with their hostile pagan neighbors. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:32.000 Nervous about, in Philippi, Paul got beaten with rods, guys. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:38.559 Nervous about setting that firestorm off again, or nervous about being too nervous about it and somebody wants to be bold. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:45.759 Can you feel how easy it is to get after each other when you lack courage? 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:50.480 Just getting it from the context at the end of chapter one, guys. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.320 And so chapter two, verse one, essentially implies this. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:55.279 Why? 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:59.360 Why then are you so worried about all of that? 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:01.120 Why? 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:06.480 Is there not encouragement from being in Christ? 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.039 Of course there is. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:15.120 And so then the implication is that we ought to encourage one another in the face of difficulty. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:28.480 We shouldn't nitpick at each other over the best way to share the gospel or who to share with next or how often or where or whether or not we should be shopping at certain stores or whatever, how how cool the music is, what time the service should start. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:33.440 Whether that works or not works, we should encourage each other. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:35.679 Should encourage each other. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:45.919 Because regardless of the consequences, or success or failure, good or bad or just not good enough, I felt that one. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:49.279 We're all in Christ. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:51.679 We're in Christ. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:53.759 It's gonna be okay. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.960 So find a way to have each other's backs, like Jesus has yours. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:00.799 Comfort from love. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:02.399 Besides that. 00:13:02.559 --> 00:13:06.879 Besides encouragement in Christ, there is also comfort from love, isn't there? 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:11.519 Some commentators I've read think that Paul is alluding to God the Father here. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:17.440 And he's forming this Trinitarian sort of pattern with the next phrase, participation in the Spirit, right? 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:22.480 Christ, love, Father, Spirit, Son, Father, Spirit. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:24.480 He might be, maybe. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.840 He does something similar at the end of 2 Corinthians with this benediction. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:38.639 He says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the love of God, and the fellowship, that's our same word here for participation of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.679 Most of us see that's a Trinitarian phrase, right? 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:49.279 In 2 Corinthians, though, the love of God stands in for God the Father, who's characterized by love. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:56.240 So comfort from love here in Philippians might be a Trinitarian phrasing pointing to the God the Father. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:57.360 Maybe. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:13:58.159 Maybe. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:13:59.759 It doesn't say that. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:12.960 But what I do think is really clear here is that Paul is not primarily talking about the love he has for the Philippians or the love the Philippians have for one another. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:19.840 But what Paul is talking about is the love of God for them. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:22.080 That comes first. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.240 The rest flows from that. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:26.240 That much is clear. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:31.519 So there is great comfort, great comfort in God's love for us. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.600 And that word comfort is almost synonymous with the word encouragement, right? 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.200 Both in English and in Greek. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:45.919 The word encouragement literally means to put courage into somebody, and the word comfort means with strength, to strengthen. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:48.080 That's what a fort is, right? 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:49.519 It's a strong place. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:57.039 So to comfort somebody is to make them strong, like a fortress with strength. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:03.039 And the comfort that Paul's talking about comes from agape love. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:10.480 That perfect, divine love of God, unconditional desire for another's well-being. 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:15.039 And Paul says that agape love is comforting. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:28.159 It makes you stronger because you know that God is working things together, not just for his own master plan, but that his master plan is good for you because he loves you. 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:30.080 No matter what. 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:34.080 God wants what's best for you. 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:43.679 What comfort is it then, friends, to know that our sins have been forgiven, our debt has been erased, we have a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:47.120 Have you felt the relief? 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:53.840 The relief that comes, the comfort that comes when you can lay down the burden of your sin. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:16:08.639 The comfort, the encouragement, the freedom, maybe from knowing that your sins have been removed, and by grace you stand before God clothed in Christ's righteousness. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:11.679 That's comfort, right? 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:34.399 The implication, of course, is that Paul is calling the Philippians to the same sort of love, the same kind of love, free love, love regardless of merit, for one another, between themselves, love each other so that you can be comforted like that, so they can live in the same freedom and the same relief and the same strength from each other's love that we've all found in Christ. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:38.720 That promotes unity, right? 00:16:40.000 --> 00:17:02.480 If God can love sinners such that he sends his son to be born in a manger and die on a cross for them, then surely the Philippians and we can find a way to put each other's interests before our own, without any conditions, without any strings. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.920 Because there's great comfort from love. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:13.599 This word participation is a great translation of the Greek words, but some of your translations might say fellowship. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:14.880 Might say fellowship. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:22.720 Paul's already used the word in Philippians back in chapter 1 when he thanked the Philippians for their partnership in the gospel. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:26.160 Fellowship, participation, partnership. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:28.480 Another word could be commonality. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:32.720 Describes having something in common, but it's it's more than just having something in common. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:41.759 It's being something so in common you become part of a group and even bound together such that if one part suffers, the other suffer with it. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:43.200 Participation. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:48.160 And the indwelling spirit of God has participation with us in two ways. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:54.240 The first way is that he's near to us, he knows what you're going through. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:11.680 And secondly, he brings us near to God so that we now in Christ have the mind of Christ, and we can have the same perspective of Christ, same perspective as Christ on all manner of things by his word. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:16.799 He's near to us and we're near to him because we have partnership in the Spirit. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:28.240 You and I, by the Spirit of God, have things in common with Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit has revealed him and revealed his heart to us. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:34.079 That's absolutely astounding if you stop and think about who we're talking about here. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:36.559 We're not talking about a carpenter only. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:46.000 We're talking about the God who thought of mountains, who thought of butterflies, who thought of, name it, thermodynamics. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.519 That God, the one who can speak and nations disperse and fall apart. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.319 We have things in common with Jesus Christ. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:02.000 And even more than that, this means that we're on Christ's side. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.839 We're on Jesus' team because of the Holy Spirit. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:13.920 And that drives the unity point even harder, doesn't it? 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:15.680 Even clearer. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:42.960 If the Holy Spirit of God, perfect from before time itself, has united himself to a believer like you and me, who's just as ever as much a sinner and child of wrath as anybody, if the Holy Spirit can remain committed to us, how can we separate from one another? 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.799 But that's that's what this text says, right? 00:19:52.559 --> 00:20:09.440 That to break fellowship, to break participation, to break community, to break partnership with people that we still hold to be genuine believers, is to break a fellowship that the Holy Spirit has not yet broken. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:11.680 So think about it. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:14.000 Think about it with me. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:30.480 Who ever, who could ever, in the history of the world, in the history of your life, have greater reason to give up on you than the Holy Spirit of God, who is grieved by every sinful twitch of your heart. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:33.839 He has every reason to give up on you, doesn't he? 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:40.400 How then can we separate from the ones that the Spirit of God holds fast? 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:42.799 That's the point of the text. 00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:45.119 But now let me be gentle as well. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:46.720 Let me be gentle as well. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.240 You don't you don't have to be ultimate best friends with every believer. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:53.359 That's not the kind of unity Paul's calling for. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:10.240 For example, I don't think you if if you can't find a way to agree about how to share the gospel, even though you know you love the same gospel, and if that disagreement is so severe, so difficult that you can't handle listening to the other guy present the gospel on a missions trip, then maybe don't go on missions trips together. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:11.839 Do other stuff. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:12.799 Right? 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:19.440 Even in that situation, we ought to be able to still break bread. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:20.480 Right? 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:33.920 And we hope, we pray, I pray, that fellowship like that, partnership like that is still possible, even with believers we don't worship with together every week. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:47.839 In other words, I think the command of this text is, and here's my counsel to my own heart and to yours, no matter how difficult it gets, no matter how hard it gets, fight. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.799 Fight to keep that right hand of fellowship open. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:22:00.480 For there is still participation in the spirit and in Time. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:06.880 If we stick with sticking together, stick with sticking together. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:13.920 That fellowship of the Spirit is surely stronger than all of our hurts and hang-ups, is it not? 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:16.480 I mean sincerely. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:29.920 Sincerely, if God in Christ can reconcile his enemies to himself by the power of this same Holy Spirit, then this same Holy Spirit can bring the people of God together no matter what. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:36.319 In this age or the one to come, we will all be one in Christ. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:40.960 Because there is fellowship in the Spirit. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.000 Next then. 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:47.519 If there is any affection and mercy. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.720 While I understand the translation, sympathy, I just I think it's wrong. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:58.799 This word sympathy is used in some pretty important places in the Hebrew Bible, the Greek word for sympathy. 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:05.599 And I think I can show you just one example, and I can make my case that I wish we translated it mercy instead. 00:23:05.920 --> 00:23:07.759 Affection and mercy. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:15.680 Back in the book of Exodus, Moses is on Mount Sinai, and he says to the Lord, please show me your glory. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:30.000 And the Lord said to Moses, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy, on whom I will show mercy. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:39.119 I'm convinced that back in Philippians chapter 2, Paul wants you to think of God's mercy towards sinners. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:44.480 Not just a feeling of sympathy towards one another. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:54.720 Affection is a heart thing. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:58.880 The word literally means guts or kidneys, or spleens, even. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:00.079 It's an internal thing. 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:12.640 And Paul has already said that word affection to the Philippians back in chapter 1 when he said that God is his witness, how he yearns for them with all of the affection of Christ Jesus. 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:14.400 So affection. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:16.799 That's how you feel. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:35.440 It's that sinking feeling in your gut when you really want something good for somebody else, like a parent watching their kid from the sidelines, just hoping, praying, longing that they'll do a good enough job just so they don't feel too discouraged. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:37.839 Just so they don't get sad or heartbroken. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:38.559 We don't want that. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:40.720 No parent wants to see their kids heartbreaking. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.839 So we long that those things would go well. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:46.559 That's the word for affection. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:54.799 It describes all those sorts of emotions that go along with when somebody is very dear to you. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:56.319 Affection. 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:04.880 And while mercy and affection are similar, several commentators agree with me that Paul is describing two different things. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.440 Not the same thing, two different things. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:11.759 One feels affection or love for somebody else. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:17.119 One feels affection, and the result then is mercy. 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:21.359 Mercifully compassionate, sympathetic action. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:27.680 You love somebody and it hurts you to see them in pain, and so you do something about it. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:34.160 You write, you call, you pray, you weep, you squeeze their shoulder on the way by because there aren't any words to say. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:35.759 Mercy. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:41.039 Several British commentators called this the root and the fruit. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:45.680 Affection produces mercy. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:52.079 Affection produces merciful action. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:58.880 God in Christ Jesus didn't have mercy on you because of anything about you. 00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:09.920 Not because of what you bring to the table for the kingdom, not because you're so smart, because you figured it all out, or not because you're so disciplined and diligent that you've lived a holy enough life. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:15.279 Nothing positive in you or me motivated the mercy of God. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:25.039 No, it was the affection of God, the pity of God upon us in our fallen and sinful state because of his love. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:29.039 He loved you with an everlasting love. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:41.920 And when he saw us, you in your sins and its consequences and sorrows, he sent forth his son to be born to save you, to rescue you, to redeem you. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:44.400 Not because we earned it, right? 00:26:46.799 --> 00:27:01.599 But because so great and so free is his love, so wide his affections, even upon his enemies, that he reached out to us in mercy. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:11.279 And there, right there, friends, comes the clearest and brightest and most glorious call to unity in this text. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.039 It's the soaring crescendo to Paul's masterpiece, right? 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.880 Ask the question: Does Jesus love you? 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:19.839 Yeah. 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:24.160 Has Jesus been merciful upon you? 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:26.160 Yeah. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:34.079 Jesus loves you just because that's who he is and who he always has been. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:40.079 But you and I have hated him in return because of our sins. 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:46.400 And he demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:57.039 That God sent his only son into the world. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:27:58.559 Merry Christmas. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.960 God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:04.079 In this is love. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:12.720 Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation, the atonement for our sins. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:21.680 And then John says this beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:27.200 We love because he first loved us. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:29.599 So how? 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:42.799 How could we ever justify withholding our love, quenching our affections, or turning our backs on a brother or sister in need of mercy? 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:49.839 Oh be affectionate and be merciful towards one another. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:53.839 Because God in Christ Jesus was merciful to you. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:56.799 There's no getting around that. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:57.920 He was. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:03.599 And he was merciful to you out of the superabundance of his affection. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.680 Because of the great love, which is just who he is. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:11.279 We ought to have big hearts. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:12.799 Right? 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:17.599 Because of Christ. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:37.759 Because of his encouragement, because of the comforting love of God, because of the participation in the Holy Spirit, because of Christ's affection and Christ's mercy, because God in Christ has shown those things to you, then we should be like Christ. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:41.759 And we can feel the punchline of all those ifs coming, right? 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:45.920 If God is like that, then we should be too. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:48.240 And he says it as much in verse 2. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:51.759 Because of Christ, we should be like Christ. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:00.079 All of those ifs in verse 1 imply a giant then right here at the beginning of verse 2. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:04.000 Then complete my joy. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:09.440 And we can flip if-then statements into because statements pretty simply, right? 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:17.599 If it is raining, then bring an umbrella is the same kind of logic as bring an umbrella because it's raining. 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:18.480 Do you see? 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:25.519 So why, if we ask the question, why does Paul say complete my joy by being of the same mind? 00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:27.119 The answer is because. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:51.759 Complete my joy by being of the same mind, because there is encouragement in Christ, because there is comfort from God's love, because there is participation in the Spirit, because there is affection and mercy, because of Christ, we should be of the same mind and the same love. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:59.839 And right there, being of the same mind and having the same love, we find two incredible, incredible details. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:03.519 Actually, whole of verse 2, two incredible details in this text. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:08.480 First, remember that Paul is still in chains in Rome. 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:12.319 He's bracing himself for the death sentence. 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:18.880 And he says, Complete my joy by being of the same mind. 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:27.119 By chapter four, Paul will tell us he's learned that in whatever situation he is to be content, he has the secret of being in need or in plenty. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:32.400 But here in chapter two, he says his joy lacks something. 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:34.079 Right? 00:31:36.240 --> 00:31:46.319 And he's more concerned that the Philippians stick together as a fellowship than he is about his own predicament. 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:54.480 He'd be fine sitting in chains with a death sentence, so long as the Philippians were okay. 00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:58.240 John Calvin comments on this verse better than I ever could. 00:31:58.319 --> 00:32:06.880 He says, Here again we may see how little anxiety Paul had as to himself, provided only it went well with the Church of Christ. 00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:10.720 Paul was kept shut up in prison and bound with chains. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:13.599 He was reckoned worthy of capital punishment. 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:18.240 Before his view were tortures, near at hand was the executioner. 00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:30.319 Yet all these things do not prevent Paul from experiencing unmingled joy, provided that he sees the churches are in a good condition. 00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:34.480 I don't know about you, but that would be hard for me. 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:39.759 Not sure I could be as serenely content in prison as Paul seems to be. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:48.319 But I do know something of how unsettling it can be when our churches are facing difficulty and strife. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:51.200 That's the first detail. 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:57.680 Notice how important it is to Paul that things go well with the church. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.680 It should be that important to us too. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:11.839 Complete my joy, Paul says, with chains around his ankles and be of the same mind. 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:16.000 And that's the whole letter of Philippians right there. 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:17.359 Opens up. 00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:24.079 Because Paul indicates that they are not currently of the same mind. 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:28.400 Or at least they could be more same-minded. 00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:33.519 But whose mind is Paul talking about? 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:36.000 That's my second detail for that matter. 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:38.559 Whose love is this? 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:48.000 I think many of us read this verse and we think Paul wants the Philippians to have the same mind as each other, to have the same love as one another. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:49.519 Which is true, he does want that. 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:50.880 That's the next half of the verse. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:54.640 But this part, this is the second incredible little detail. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:34:00.799 I think Paul is talking about having the same mind as Christ. 00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:04.559 And the same love as God. 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:06.480 That's back in verse 1. 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:14.559 The same mindset, the same heart set of God. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:23.119 Encouragement, comfort, fellowship, affection, and mercy. 00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:33.199 In other words, what Paul is saying here is have the same mind as Christ and encourage one another as God in Christ has encouraged you. 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:39.199 Have the same heart as Jesus and comfort one another as God in Christ has comforted you. 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:41.280 Second Corinthians says something similar, right? 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:46.159 God the Father of mercies comforts us so that we can comfort each other. 00:34:46.400 --> 00:34:50.400 Have the same heart set as the Holy Spirit to maintain fellowship. 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:54.960 Be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, Ephesians 4. 00:34:55.119 --> 00:35:00.480 Have the same heart as God and be stirred up with affection for one another. 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:06.719 Have the same mind as God and be merciful to one another. 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:09.760 Have the same mind as that. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.639 And have the same love as that. 00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:17.679 Because of Christ, we should be like Christ. 00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:20.480 Simply incredible. 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:23.280 There's nothing new, I'm telling you, there, right? 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:31.679 The Christian faith, for all of its depth of wonder and riches and complexity, we can we can summarize it in the shortest and simplest phrases. 00:35:31.760 --> 00:35:39.599 There's a reason that Jesus loves me, this I know, and what would Jesus do became so popular. 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:40.800 Isn't there? 00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:47.039 Because of Christ, Jesus loves me, we should be like Christ. 00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:57.599 And that will bring us together in Christ. 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.239 Look at the rest of verse 2 with me. 00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:06.000 Being in full accord and of one mind. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:11.840 Paul says, have your very souls stitched together, being in full accord, such a great phrase. 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:18.880 It's like how Paul tells the Colossians he wants their hearts to be encouraged and he wants them to be knit together in love. 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:23.199 Knit together, being in full accord and of one mind. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:29.039 And when we say mind, even in English, we mean something like mindset most of the time, don't we? 00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:30.239 That's what's going on here. 00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:31.840 For mind. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:33.760 It's just a famous word in Greek thought. 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:35.679 Homer uses it over a hundred times. 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:37.920 Plato and all the philosophers love it too. 00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:41.440 It's all over the Greek translation of Proverbs. 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:44.880 And the mind here is more than just being smart. 00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:48.639 Not just about your cognition. 00:36:49.119 --> 00:36:53.840 Paul's not calling the Philippians to just agree on the same doctrinal statement. 00:36:54.079 --> 00:37:01.840 This is not simply a command to make sure you agree about every point of theology or interpretation. 00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:03.280 Far from it. 00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:06.239 That's a low bar for Paul, it seems, in this text. 00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:09.599 No, the idea here is of a whole person's mind. 00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:15.119 In English, we say things like, his mind is made up, right? 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:20.719 And we praise people saying, a man who knows his own mind, and that's a good thing. 00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:32.079