The Joy-Filled Book of Philippians {Part 4}

{For parts 1-3, check out: https://medium.com/@nutrition.ellen/the-joy-filled-book-of-philippians-part-3-8-a84d640d19f3}

Welcome to Philippians chapter two! What a beautiful, packed, and convicting book this is. The week I taught this passage I also taught Romans 14 for our life group so at the end of this article I will post a link to a small, yet relevant, rabbit trail I took to explain an amazing truth I saw this week. I pray you are blessed. I am so excited to comb back through these truths with you today.

Start today with prayer. Ask God to help you focus on His word and to discern truth and to learn something about Him today. I encourage you to read this passage as though a dear pastor was sending it to you. Someone who cares deeply for your soul and for your church.

Philippians 2:1–11

“(1) Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, (2) make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. (3) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; (4) do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. (5) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (8) Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Take a minute to pray over this passage again, then let’s get started!

“(1) Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, (2) make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. (3) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; (4) do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

First things first. Paul found joy in the unity of believers. We can (and should), too. If you have a group of believers in your life who is unified in their love for the Lord and truth, rejoice! This is a great gift and something that many have yet to find. If you have never experienced a unified and joyful group of believers, pray for God to help you find unity. And, work to be that voice of unity in the believers surrounding you. Strive for unity with the believers that surround you right now before leaving your group to “find” unity elsewhere because God may be wanting to use you in a powerful way right where you are now!

Unity gives weight to the gospel message.

• Unity demonstrates that we actually believe what we say we believe and that what we believe makes a difference in our lives.
• Unity testifies of God’s love and power — no group will ever find lasting unity outside of active pursuit of unity in Christ.

Paul lists out some qualities that precede unity in verse 1. He says that if any of these exist, unity can be found. So, if there is any encouragement in Christ… we can have unity. If there is any consolation of love… we can have unity. If there is any fellowship of the spirit… we can have unity. If there is any affection and compassion… we can have unity. Any of these is all the power you need to find unity among believers. Christ provides each of these for us. We can have unity. But to have unity, someone must be the first to take action. And it is probably going to involve some sacrifice.

In verses 2–4, Paul lists some action steps for us. I personally like action steps so I turned them into a list. I am responsible for me. I can do these things through the power of Christ and pray they bring peace to my struggling relationships:

• Be of the same mind…
• united in Spirit…
• intent on one purpose…
• do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit…
• with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…
• do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others…

Romans 12:18 encourages me to be at peace with everyone, so far as it depends on me. So, how does this work out practically? How do I wade through the real life sticky situations I am a part of? Where does “depending on me” end and “irreconcilable” begin?

Let’s break down these concepts a bit…

• Be of the same mind — Here we need to breakdown the negotiables and the non-negotiables. I believe that when Paul exhorts the Philippian people to “be of the same mind” he is encouraging them to focus together in unity over gospel truth. In part 3 of this study, we discussed how the Philippian church was struggling with merging their diverse backgrounds and slightly differing belief systems. We see this today.
  Something I have had to do as an adult is to decipher out which “rules” from my past are gospel-driven non-negotiable truths and which “rules” are preferential, negotiable, or maybe not even necessary aspects of the faith. Growing up and still today, there are many rules and recommendations that church leaders or my parents placed as safeguards, preferences, or boundaries in our lives. While many of these are wonderful workings out of a faithful life, it is absolutely vital that we as mature Christians not live our lives grounded in man-made rules (like the Pharisees) but in gospel truth.
  I’m going to give an extremely simplistic example of this now, then we will stick a pin in this to discuss later because I have found this to be that important. Here’s my example to let you understand my thought process here: In Biblical times they did not have internet so we have no clear cut rules in the Bible about how we should use the internet specifically. We do have commands and exhortations to not set our eyes on anything unworthy and to use our time wisely but how this practically works out can differ among individuals and families. My husband and I have chosen to place a filter on our internet. We believe this to be essential in our household to help keep the eyes of ourselves, our children, and our visitors protected. We also do not let our (4 year old) son have uncensored internet access at any time (this will modify over time but he’s barely four). While I would not tell you that if you don’t have this internet filter like us you are in sin or if your child has a device with internet you are in sin, I would warn you to be careful and think these things through for your family. I have known people who have chosen to not have internet in their home or on their phones at all to reduce the risk of sin and distraction. We, however, have found amazing spiritual growth options via online platforms. But, an individual who has found themselves tempted or falling into looking at sinful images online may make different “house rules” about internet because they understand their own weaknesses. Never would I place rules on others to say “you SHOULD _____” related to internet outside of the very clear words of scripture to set no worthless or harmful thing before your eyes. I hope this example is simplistic enough for you to understand the heart behind where I am coming from. I have seen whole churches divided and bickering about things such as this and let me tell you: if Satan can’t get you wasting your time and heart on the sin you are trying to avoid he will be happy as can be to get you to waste your time and heart bickering with other believers about it!
  We will come back to this later — this is the little rabbit trail I promised — because I believe it is absolutely vital for you to understand and know how to process out the ‘rules’ of your past well.
• United in Spirit — Similar to being of one mind, yet different. God loves unity. Unity in the Spirit springs forth from hearts of love for one another. To me, this represents the deep love connection that believers can have with one another and the beauty that comes from working together as one body in the Spirit.
• Intent on one purpose — God has called us to know Him and to make Him known. We are called to glorify God and to love one another. When our purpose as a body of believers is focused correctly we can find great unity.
• Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit — This one is self-explanatory yet possibly the most difficult. Stop and do a gut check. What am I doing within my church for selfish gain? Where am I promoting myself or doing things or studying out of conceit or to make myself look better, more important, or more godly?
  One of the more convicting spaces I’ve been in over the past couple of years was last summer when I looked at my commitments. I was convicted of how I was just running myself ragged by saying “yes” to anything and everything. Focused time to discern my giftings, the needs of those around me, and where I felt called to serve pushed me to say no to some things and say yes to others. It pushed me to create space for my children and husband instead of spending every spare moment dragging them along to every volunteer opportunity I came across. Saying no to some extra items that were running me all over town created space to open my home to more people for hospitality and discipleship.
• With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves —Humility: thinking about myself less, not necessarily thinking less of myself which actually tends to result in something I like to call “reverse pride.” Where can you build up the people around you?
• Do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others — What do those around me need? How can I help others grow? How can I show deference?

As promised, join me here to learn more about The Tragedy of a Wounded Conscience

“(5) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (8) Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

This passage was likely a song and something the people receiving this letter would resonate with. Songs have a way of resonating with us, don’t they?! Like if I told you “please don’t forget that our God is a Way Maker, a Miracle Worker, a Promise Keeper, and a Light in the darkness,” you would probably respond with “that is Who You are!” Songs invoke emotion and help us to memorize truths (when the song is truthful).

This passage is such a strong reminder of the unity we have in Christ because it is the WHY. This is what it’s all about. Jesus’ attitude was not one to seek equality with God or of self-promotion. Jesus emptied Himself and Jesus became a servant. In humility, Jesus became a man and Jesus willingly died. These are the same things that we, as followers of Jesus, are called to joyfully suffer with Christ, as He did for us.

In case you missed the link above, here is my promised fleshing out of The Tragedy of a Wounded Conscience and working through the beliefs of our past: https://medium.com/@nutrition.ellen/the-tragedy-of-a-wounded-conscience-56255dfe8185

Final Thoughts:

• Where do I need to promote and facilitate unity amongst those around me?
• Where am I personally not acting in love and unity?
• What rules or issues from my past should I work through biblically?

Resources:

• The Bible, New American Standard Version (KJV, NKJV, Amplified, NIV, ESV also used as reference)
• The Book of Philippians by Jo Saxton
• Count it All Joy by Kay Arthur
• Various Bible commentaries as desired