Untitled Sermon

To be the strength Well, it is indeed a blessing to be back. For those that don't know, and you're just here for the first time, we've been gone, Ann and I, and our girls have been gone for the last couple weeks. We had the privilege of going with my dad out to the West Coast and visiting family on his side that we haven't seen for about 11 years. We suffered for Jesus on the Oregon coast and up into Washington.

It was tough. But, you know, we were game to go and lay our lives on the line. And but I had the opportunity to pray with my 83-year-old aunt who is suffering from Parkinson's disease to the extent that she could only sit there in the wheelchair and not move. And her eyes were closed. And we knew she was there and that she knew that we were there because as my dad, who hasn't seen her for 11 years,

and then her son that has been away for several, well, he hadn't seen her that often, were sitting there visiting. And talking with her, she opened her eyes and looked at them as if to acknowledge, I can hear you even though I can't relate, you know. And then I had the opportunity to pray with her. And so that was a blessing. And we got to visit with other family members there and share the Lord.

And it was an enriching experience. And then Lisa and Kara had the opportunity. We dropped them off in Portland and they boarded a plane and flew to Alaska for three days and visited a friend up there and brought back some exciting pictures that we'll share as we get them. But, you know, it was a blessing. Kind of along the lines, just kind of trailing on to what Mike and Stacy were saying,

that people are hungry for the Lord. And all they need is someone to tell them, as the Bible says. How will they hear unless someone tells them? And you are here so that you can tell them. You are the mouthpiece to be able to share. And whether you understand relativism or idealism or privatism or individualism, all the isms, you know Jesus. And that's all that counts.

And they need to know Jesus. And I was blessed with how Mike said he saw Christ lived out in the life of his friend. And that's what led him to the Lord. That's always what does it. It is usually never, you know, our great intellectualism. It's just we're willing to tell them about Jesus and be where they are. And that's what this is all about. As we're studying God's Word and as we're in Philippians and we're ready for Chapter 2,

that's what this is all about. Lisa and Kara brought back an article from a paper there in Alaska. And I assume it was national. And maybe you read it already. But it's out of Dadeville, Alabama. And I know you can read it back there. That's why I'm showing you this. Showing you that it's a real article. Because the headline is, Bible Contest Loser Kills Man Who Outquoted Him.

True story. Dadeville, Alabama. A man who lost an early morning Bible quoting contest killed the man who beat him, police said. Gable Taylor. Taylor, age 38, was shot once in the face outside his apartment Thursday. Police are searching for the suspect whose name was not released and who is believed to have left Dadeville about 50 miles northeast of Montgomery,

Police Chief Terry Wright said. Taylor, a preacher's brother, and the suspect were comparing their Bible knowledge outside an apartment complex, each quoting different versions of the same passage, police said. The suspect retrieved his Bible and realized he was wrong, witnesses said. He said Taylor did no more and that made him mad, Wright quoted witnesses as saying.

The man threatened Taylor, saying, quote, I'll kill you before the night is out, end quote, and left with two other people who had witnessed the exchange. Let me ask you a question in regard to that and in regard to what we've just been talking about. What good did it do this guy to memorize Scripture? I mean, we read in the Word in, I think it's Psalm 119, that thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

But what good did it do this guy to memorize Scripture? None. Absolutely none. Because you see, he was doing the right thing, but for the wrong reason and with the wrong motive. His motive, obviously, was to come across with this Bible knowledge, that he knew Scripture, that he knew these verses, rather than the love of God. So he did the right thing with the wrong motive for the wrong reason,

and it ended up in tragedy. And unfortunately, that is true of many. Many in the church. Many who call themselves Christians. Many who claim to be believers. You see, we can be doing the right things. Why are you here this morning? Well, because it's the right thing to do. I should be in church. I feel it, you know. I need to be with God. Be the right thing, but maybe for the wrong reason.

And we can do our actions with the wrong motivation and have the wrong attitude about it. It simply becomes ritual. And then, listen, we move into idolatry. It moves into idolatry. A Bible scholar, Haddon Robinson, writes, quote, An idol can be any false idea about God or substitute for him that turns us away from knowing his true character. The Apostle John stated that Jesus Christ is the true God.

Now, listen, to know Jesus is to know the Father. To be intimately related to his Son is to be forever related to the eternal God. It is possible for me to worship an idolatry. It is possible for me to worship an idolatry. It is possible for me to worship an idolatry. It is possible for me to worship an idol I call Jesus that leads me away from him. End quote.

It's possible for me to worship an idol that I call Jesus that leads me away from him. Now, how can I do that? I do that when I do the right thing for the wrong reason, with the wrong motive, and the wrong attitude. You see, that's why we're devoted to the study of the Word of God. What's fellowship? What's fellowship all about? I mean, why do we get together?

You say, well, we're supposed to fellowship. Well, what does that mean? What is to be involved in our fellowship? Is it just hanging out? Just to break bread? Or is there a purpose there? Is there supposed to be some kind of ministry taking place during that time of fellowship where I'm seeking to know you and to know your needs and seeking to minister to you?

Why do we give? If you give, and I pray you do, I pray you, you learn the grace of giving to God, of your sustenance, of your finances. But why do you give? Why do you tithe? We were talking last night about how there are some churches, and we've grown up in them, many, many, maybe many of you haven't, and maybe this is the only experience with church you know,

but there are churches where when you come to the church, one of the first things they do, and that's when I ask you to fill out the bulletin flap, and I tell you that nobody will come to your door, I mean that, and the reason I say that is because so many who have church experience know that the minute they walk in and somebody finds out who they are, somebody's going to be on their doorstep with a little thing saying, and this is true, and they have the little, you know, your salary chart. If you make between X and X, then your giving should be X, you know. If you make between this and this, then this is what your minimum should be to give, and you need to sign this and say that to join this church, that's what I'm going to do.

And then you get them, you know, every month or bi-monthly, or usually bi-monthly because they don't want to wait until a quarter because by then your giving would have dropped to whatever. You get a little statement in the mail, and it says from X and X church, and this is what you pledged at the beginning of the year, the pledge year, and this is how much you've given, and then this is what's outstanding, and it's in red, balance due, you know, and your goal by the end of the year is to make that balance due go away. And so when you give that way, what are you giving for? You know, what's the offering going to?

You see, we can make it a ritual. That's why... When we come to the Lord's table, I seek to try and keep it stirred up so that it's not the same thing because it's so easy for us to come in a form and say, this is the way we always do it, and then it just becomes the cracker and the juice and not a time to really meet with the Lord and realize the new commitment and the freshness and what the blessing of our life in Christ is all about. It can become ritual, and you can do the right thing with the wrong attitude, and it becomes ritual.

And then it becomes... Even reading your Bible, you know, even spending time with God, quote-unquote, reading the Word, I'm going to get up and read the Word, and it becomes a fight and a struggle, and I'm going to make it through this chapter if it kills me. Why? What are you doing? You're making it a ritual. And then we're no different than the guys with the Bible quoting.

It leads to ritualism, which leads to idolatry. And so we seek to study the Word, not so that we can become great Bible scholars, Noteth the wordeth to whoevereth asketh, but so that we can know him, so we can know Jesus, so we can know his love for us, so that in every opportunity that we have to interface with somebody else, we can share that love. They can be loved by us as if we were Christ. That's it.

That's what he calls us to do. And that brings us to chapter two, that we know what we do, that we have the right motive, that produces the right action, that's done with the right attitude. Now, I'm going to review for just a second, and I promise it won't take very long. I used to hate reviews in school, you know, review. It's like dead time. It's like, tune out,

you know, and wait till we get to the text here. But don't tune out. Follow me. Because this is progressive as we go through Philippians. All of the word is progressive, if you really look at it. But as we're studying this, the study in Philippians, I don't want it to be segmented into sections that are unrelated. These are all related. We're learning to rejoice in the

Lord. And I believe that's something that as Christians, we have to learn. And we learn by growing in Christ. I wish I could say, as soon as you come to Christ, you'll just rejoice, rejoice, rejoice all the time. That has the association with being happy, happy, happy. And it's one of the things we have to do when we learn to rejoice in the Lord is learn that there's a difference between happy and rejoicing. And we have to learn to rejoice

in the Lord. And so the study in Philippians is looking at that, how to learn to rejoice in the Lord, not in circumstances. And chapter one has been looking at learning to rejoice in the opportunity to rejoice in the Lord. And so the study in Philippians is looking at that, how to that we have to serve Christ. And if you remember, how often do we have those opportunities to serve

Christ? All the time. Every minute of every day is an opportunity to serve the Lord. Not here on Sunday morning or Sunday evening or Wednesday night or whenever we have activities, but every minute of every day is an opportunity to serve the Lord. And in chapter one, in the first two verses, we saw the first three things that we need to learn to do that. And verse one, that's who we

are. And who we are in verse one of chapter one is bond slaves of Jesus Christ. We are bond slaves. No rights sold out to him. He leads us. We say, yes, he points, we go. That's it. Second thing we learned in verse one is what we are. And we are saints, hagios, set apart unto God. That means we're set apart now for a special task, for a special work. That means I can't do what I used

to do in the world. That means I can't do those things again because I have been set apart now to be this instrument of God that does this specific task, just like a surgeon who's an oral surgeon simply works on teeth. He doesn't remove appendix. He's just an oral surgeon. You are a saint. You are set apart unto God. That's what you are. And you can no longer do those

activities that you once did in spite of God. Thirdly, we learned in verse one where we are, and that's in Christ Jesus. Saints, hagios, in Christ Jesus. That's where you are. You are in him. As you have come to Christ, he has placed you into his body and you are there forever.

That's that central point. And as you understand that and see that, then whatever situation you're in, you realize I'm still in Christ. I haven't changed anything at all. I am still in him. And it affects your attitude. It helps your attitude. Next, we learned in verses three through six that we need to be cultivating the habit of prayer. If we're going to rejoice in

the opportunities that we have to serve Christ as we're learning to serve, as we're learning to rejoice, then we need to be cultivating the habit of prayer. And I pray that you are. And I pray for you in that. I pray for you in that. I pray for you in that. I pray for you in that. I pray for you in that. I pray for you as a fellowship that you are learning how to pray. And that's how we are to

pray is for others first rather than me first. Rather than bless me, Lord. Give me this. Give me that. Bless me, Lord, I pray. It's Lord, bless them. Bless their sustenance. Give them the grace. Give them the necessities, the substance of this life that they need, Lord. It's developing that kind of a prayer life is an example of learning to see those opportunities to serve Christ and

rejoice in those opportunities to serve him. Then in verses seven through 11, we were given the example of loving others, how we are to love each other with the affection of Christ. That's a feeling. That's something that God gives us. And he imparts that to us through his spirit. That's something that's to be happening in our lives. Verses 12 through 22, we saw Paul's example

of trusting Christ in the midst of difficult circumstances and conflicts with others. And if you're going to have an opportunity to serve Christ, it will more than likely not be up here. It will more than likely be in the midst of a conflict or in the midst of a struggle, with somebody, of a conflict with some person. It's the biggest opportunity you're going to have to serve Christ. It's when you're going through a tight time, some painful situation, some conflict

in a relationship, that's the greatest opportunity you're going to have to really serve Christ and to really show forth his love. And Paul examples that. The bulk of the verses are in that example, verses 12 through 22. And then finally, verses 22 through 30, it just brings us to that point of whatever's necessary. If I'm going to rejoice in the opportunity,

to serve Christ, then I don't pick the opportunities. Well, I'll serve you, Lord, if, you know, I don't go to Africa. I don't have to lose a limb. You know, I lay out all these conditions. I'll serve you, God, if. Then it comes to the point where we really learn to rejoice when we can say to God, whatever's necessary, whatever you want to do with my life so that I can serve

you, do it. And that's what verses 22 through 30 are. And that shows us two different things we need to see. Number one, we need to see the need to remain here. See, it's easier to go. It's easier to die and go be with Christ, which is far greater. The greatest need is for us to be here because there are people that you will meet, just like Mike and Stacey on that college campus will meet

people you and I will never meet. And there are people that you will meet and that you are meeting right now that I will never meet. And there's a need for you to be here to show them what Jesus is all about, to tell them about Jesus, to show them that love that they need to see. So you have a need to be here. And whatever's necessary for God to do with you through that particular time

is what you need to say, Lord, whatever's necessary so that I can serve you. Secondly, you need to see that there is a need in our lives to be here. And you need to see that there is a need in our lives, verses 27 through 30 in chapter one, to face conflicts, oh boy, and to suffer. There's a need for that. It has been graced unto us. It has been granted unto you,

verse 29. It has been gifted to you, the word is, to suffer on behalf of Christ. So as we see those things progressively, we learn how to see the opportunities to serve Christ and rejoice in those. And that moves us into chapter two, which the heading on that chapter of all of chapter two rejoicing by having the mind of Christ. Rejoicing by having the mind of Christ. You see, that's what

we're progressing into as we're looking at these things, who we are, what we are, where we are, prayer, loving, whatever's necessary, Lord. All of these are bringing us into an understanding of what the mind of Christ is. And as you and I have the mind of Christ, which we are commanded to have and which you and I can have, then we'll understand more how to rejoice. The rejoicing then will become, I don't want to say easier, more obvious. So chapter two, rejoicing by having

the mind of Christ. Let's look at the first 11 verses this morning. We're just going to cover the first four, but let's tie these together and it'll be, we'll do at least a two-part study on just these first 11 verses. First, verse one, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider

others better than yourself. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death.

Even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Over the next week, if you want something to meditate on and devotions, just read that, those first 11 verses over every day and ask God to give you understanding on that particular section. There's so much there that is necessary for us to understand to be able to

rejoice in the Lord and is dealing with the mind of Christ. Now as we look at these first four verses, Paul is laying out for us the right motives so that we can have the right actions with the right attitude. So we can do the right thing the right way with the right motive rather than rather than it being ritualistic, rather than becoming idol worshipers, that we can do what's right, the right motives with the right actions, with the right attitudes. Let's look at verse one, because this shows us the right motives.

Now if you're reading King James, I think there's a therefore there. Therefore, if there be any encouragement in Christ. In NIV and I think NAS, all there is is if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ. Now the therefore is always therefore a reason. And the therefore is summing up everything that has gone before the therefore. So all of this, that's why I'm

saying this is progressive. Everything in chapter one relates to chapter two. Everything that he's written up to this point pulls us into this. Therefore, he's summarizing because of, you're learning to rejoice in the opportunities to serve Christ, whatever's necessary, Lord. I see the need to remain here. I see the need to suffer. Therefore, Paul's surmising. Then we have

the word if. If, and that's a very misleading word in the English. It can connote the idea of a vagueness. If there is or if there isn't. And that's not the way it is in the Greek. In the Greek, it's emphatic. It's if, so then it is. Or we could, in our English, and maybe you're translation has the word since. Since, that's more the right idea that's being conveyed. Because

these are absolutes. Since this is so, and that's what he's going to say in the first couple of verses, then let this happen. So the ifs or the senses here are your motives. There's four of them. There's four motives or four things that are the basis of our motives here that we'll see. One is encouragement from being united with Christ. Second is comfort from being united with Christ. Second is comfort from being united with Christ. Second is

love. Third is fellowship with the Spirit. And fourth is tenderness and compassion. Those four things are in verse one. And these are the basis of what our motives should be for what we do. And then we'll see in verses two and three, what we're to do, or verse two, and then verses three and four, what our attitude is to actually be as a result of that. So let's look at the right motives.

Four of them. Number one, since, and I'll read it with that emphasis because that's the way it's intended. Since you have encouragement from being united with Christ. And number two, with Christ. Stop there. Since you have that, these are things that you and I as believers are to recognize we already have. It's not anything we have to learn. We have it. It's there. We just,

it's one of the things that the enemy seeks to keep us from realizing. You see, we focus so much on the circumstance and how overwhelming that circumstance is that we fail to focus on what we have. Isn't that true? You never realize what you have until it's gone. You know, that's when it shakes you up to the point of realizing how, how blessed that is. And then number three, when you're in a situation where you're not

blessed, that was, and then you lose a loved one. And oh, if only I'd have taken the time to realize that. Well, that's what the enemy wants to do. He wants to get your focus off of what you have and onto the circumstance so that you're overwhelmed by the circumstance to the point that you can't function because you've forgotten what you have. But since you have encouragement

in Christ, and that word encouragement can be and is translated elsewhere as exhortation as well. So encouragement slash exhortation, if you're taking notes, since you have encouragement or exhortation, you're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to do that. from being united in Christ. Literally, it's conveying the idea of a person to person

encouragement or exhortation from being with or in Christ. Let me give you an example of what that's talking about. There are those sitting here who claim to be Christians and yet who see their relationship with God as I am here and God is way out there somewhere. And I'm hoping that as I go through life, I do things that please him. And I do enough good. What a Christian is. They have no idea what a relationship with Jesus Christ

is. When you say, Lord, I agree with you. I am a sinner. According to your word, I see that save me. He saves you and he gives you his Holy Spirit. He imparts himself into you. So he's not way out there. He's in here. And this idea of since you have encouragement that comes from being united with Christ or being in Christ, it has the idea of a person to person or a constant kind of face

to face fellowship with the Lord. Now, encouragement and exhortation seem to be opposites. Encouragement is it seems to be in our language that a boy and an exhortation seems to be one of those discipline kind of things, you know, you. But I don't want you to see it in that light. I want you to see it. And we have the best example of that this these two weeks with the Olympics.

We have the athletes and their coaches. And there's always no matter what it is, whether it's gymnastics or whatever, there's always that interplay between the athlete and the coach. Yesterday, it was it was great. It gave a perfect example of this idea of encouragement, exhortation that we have in Christ. They had the bicycle race yesterday, one of the bicycle races. They have

four man competitive team bicycle races. But yesterday they had one on one. I've never seen this before. I don't know where I've been, you know, but I've never seen maybe it's new in the Olympic. But it's cool. These two guys start off and they're next to each other and they do laps on this 200 meter track. The first two laps, they look like they're just piddling. But there's

real strategy there because they're waiting until they come towards that last lap. And then they really poured on and they race to that finish line. And there's I mean, the bikes are 30,000 bucks apiece, aerodynamically designed. And there's these strategies of how to take this hill and then swing back in and go off his slipstream and cut inside and all this stuff. And you see

these guys as they're ready to start off. And the coach is actually he's holding him right there at the starting line, right behind him, holding the seat of the bike. And the American coach yesterday, I saw him. His face was right against the head. And here's the here's the rider's ear. And he's just right there. And he's you know, you could tell he's telling him something like now when you pull out

and he's going to go slow and then he's going to come up on you. You take off, you know, and that's just exactly what this guy did. But that's this is the kind of encouragement exhortation we have in Christ. He's right there. He's the coach, man. He's saying that's it. You know, when Bella said that night to to the girl, you can do it. You can do it. That's the encouragement. The exhortation is now watch him, you know, because he's sly and he'll try

and slip in on you. That's who we have in Christ. That's somebody far off. But right there, right there, you and I have that. I mean, if we got that, we don't need anything else. But see, the enemy takes our focus off of that and puts it on the circumstance. And oh, woe is me. And Paul is saying, man, you can learn to rejoice in the Lord, have the mind of Christ. Since you have encouragement

that comes from being. United in Christ. John 14, 23. Jesus said, if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. If you've truly asked Jesus to come into your life to save you, he has. He lives there and you have this closeness with him. Now, all these other three motives come from that. I mean, it's like this is that's the entire

Bible, folks, over and over. Genesis one is God so loved that he made. Man and fellowship with him. Man sinned. God moved in love to redeem. Period. That's the Bible. That's it. We tell others about that. You come to the New Testament. What do you see? God so loved that he gave to redeem man. We tell others about it. That's the word. What do we have here as far as our motive? God so loves us that he's right there with us as

believers. He's right there to encourage and exhort us through everything that we face. Now, coming off of that is a. Motive is since you have comfort from his love. Now, the word comfort, there's a combination of two Greek words, one for speech and one for alongside of. It means speaking closely to. And it emphasizes the first point, just like that coach with the bike right there speaking close to

it's not God. Here I am. If you can hear me, you know, help me in this situation. He's right there. He's speaking closely, one on one, very intimate, knows the situation, knows what's going on. And usually he speaks to us through his word. And so when you want comfort from his love and that realize that encouragement and closeness, that's when you grab his word. Then you sit down and it's

not ritual. It's not. I got to plow through three chapters today to keep up with through the word in my daily bread. And that's going to be a struggle. No, it's. Well, Lord, I want. I want to know that encouragement. I want to know the comfort of your love. I read through Psalm 22 this morning. Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, I have been at points at times

where when I read that song, I come to that and I go, that's me, God, that's me. You hit me on the head. That's it. That's my God. My God, you're not here. You know, but this morning I could read that and I was blessed. It comforted me, if you can believe that, because I've I know his comfort this morning. I know his closeness. And that spoke to my heart more of what Jesus.

Did suffer on the cross when he did cry out. He was estranged from the father so that I would never have to be. And I was comforted in that this morning. He comforted me in his love by speaking closely to me through his word. And I long for this. It's not to ritualistically hammer out however many chapters. It's to know that closeness, to know that encouragement that there is in Christ and to know the comfort of his love.

That's the second motivating factor. The third one there is the fellowship with the spirit. Since you have. Fellowship with the spirit. F.B. Meyer, a Bible scholar, writes, quote, They who live near God know what that fellowship is. They know that they are always accompanied, that they are never for one moment by themselves, can never enter a room with the consciousness of vacancy, can never travel in an empty car with a sense of isolation and solitude.

There is always the fellowship of the spirit. Do you realize that in your own life? Can you go somewhere by yourself and realize you're not alone? That the spirit of God is there and talk to him? I do. I mean, if anybody was around, I think I was nuts. I think I was Jimmy Stewart talking to Harvey, the six foot rabbit. I walk into anywhere. I walk in. OK, Lord, you know, what are we doing here? What do you want me to know?

What do you want me to see? Go to the grocery store. Walk in. OK, Lord, who am I going to see? I hope I don't see anybody I know. You know, not today. Oh, there's somebody right there. OK, Lord, what do you want me to say? You walk up to him talking to him, you know, and they'll leave real fast. OK, God, yeah, we'll talk to this person right here. Hi, how are you? And they go, fine, thanks. See you later.

No, but, you know, that fellowship of the spirit, you know, that oneness, you know, that closeness, that constancy with him. He's always there. He'll never leave or forsake you. That's promise. So since you have the encouragement from being united with Christ, since you have that comfort from his love, since you have the fellowship with his spirit and again, all of this is emphasizing the relationship, that intimacy with him,

not ritual, not pass the plate, not eat the eat the cracker and the juice, not sing a hymn. Sit down, sing a hymn, repeat the Gloria Patri and Apostles Creed. But really lay your heart out to him since you since you have these things. And then fourthly, since you have tenderness and compassion, both of those words are used in the Greek to emphasize just the compassion.

The first word for tenderness that is there in our Bibles is the Greek word that refers to the bowels where the Greeks saw the seat of our emotions, the seat of our feelings. The second word that we have for mercies or compassion is is the word which means pity. And so it has the idea there. It just shows God's deep concern. You have God's deep concern. God's not going through his day like, you know, some some I picture the old the old banker, accountant type guy with a little plastic visor on, you know,

and the little glasses down here who's flipping through cards, you know. Oh, yeah, Fry, he's over there. Yeah, it's OK. OK, I'm doing all this. OK, yeah, Fry's tripping again. OK, let's pick him up, put him over here. No, it's it's God's there with a deep felt pity, compassion for you. He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly the struggles you're going through.

And he's not just going to pick. So if I make another run at it, you'll be OK. He's going, I'm here. You know, I'm here. I want to uplift you. I want to undergird you. God holds back the forces of the enemy who wants to crush you. That's your motivation for doing anything. You have the encouragement from being united with Christ. You have that comfort of his love.

You have the fellowship of the spirit and his tender mercy. You have that. That's the right motive. Now that produces the right action. Verse two, that shows us then what we do. And Paul says, make my joy complete by their. Four and he lists four things. In other words, Paul's Paul's saying, if I really see that you're going now, if you quote me 100 Bible verses or do me a three point sermon with a beginning

and a body and an end, I really know that you're that you're growing in the Lord. If you do these things, if these actions are happening in your life and it'll make my joy complete, Paul says, and there's four corresponding actions to the four motives, if we realize these four motives, then they become the right motives for these four right actions. And the first one, he says, is being like minded. Being like minded.

Literally, in the Greek, it means minding the one thing or having the same thing in mind. And it refers to purpose and priority and order of importance. In other words, as we're all sitting here this morning and if we are Christians and Jesus is our Lord and Savior, then we need to recognize these four motives of what we have in him. And then we should all have the same purpose.

We as we leave the same priority should be on our minds. And that's what he's saying this. You should be like minded. You should have these say this same thing as as the priority or the purpose of importance in your life. And these next three come out of that. So if I'm really with the right motive, then we're all going to have the same purpose in mind and the same purpose starts off with, he says,

having the same love, having the same love. He says it over and over and over in his word. Jesus said a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you so love one another by this, he says, shall all men know that you are my disciples and all of the rest of the epistles in the Book of Acts are that commandment example. We should all have the same mind.

What is that mind? What's the same purpose? What's the purpose in our mind is we're all having the same motive. It's having the same love literally in the Greek. It's having continuously the same love. A continuous love among the believers for one another. You see, there can't be if we're moving on the same motive. There can't be. Well, I'm coming to this fellowship and I'm going to sit over here

because there's somebody over there I just do not like. I am not going to sit next to them. They have really rubbed me the wrong way and I cannot forgive them. And I will not do that. Can't be. It doesn't work. Now, if you got the motives for motives here, if these motives are working, if we see that and we're going, yes, Lord, I realize that I realize that

I realize that I realize that then we need to have the same mind. Which says we have a continuous love for one another. Now, that, along with other scriptures, indicates the Philippians didn't. A lot of times people hold up the Church of Philippi as a model church. It wasn't a model church. It was an example. It was an example of a basic church, of a basic body of believers

who go through the same conflicts you and I do and who get ticked off at one another just like you and I do. And they get overwhelmed by circumstances just like you and I do. And it's hard to rejoice just like you and I have that same difficulty. And this is written to help encourage them to know what to do to overcome that. That's why we're going through it.

Isn't that great? The chances are there's somebody here or somebody's been here or somebody's coming. If you stay long enough, you're going to have a conflict with. But see, back in Chapter one, we're to expect conflicts as part of it, part of the opportunities to serve Christ. But if we're motivated by the same thing, we've got the same motives and we have the same mind and the same mind says we have a continuous love.

One for another. I can't ignore you if you've hurt me. I can't estrange myself from you if I've been hurt by you. I have to love you. I have to move in love towards you. That's my goal. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. There's a need for me to remain here. And that's one of them. And as I do that, as that works, people are drawn to Christ.

Amazingly, having the same. There's a mark of discipleship in the first in the first church in the Book of Acts. That's what he's talking about. He's saying to them, he'll actually name the odious and teach you in Chapter three. He'll mention it again in Chapter four. They were having conflicts, and it was evidently something that was causing division in the church.

You know what happens when you have a conflict? Everybody takes sides. Well, I think they're right and I think they're wrong. We've got conflict and it becomes us against them in the body of Christ. And so much of the body of Christ is is besieged by schism that way. What's the answer? The right motive. I have the encouragement in Christ. I have the comfort of his love.

I have the fellowship of his Holy Spirit. I have his tenderness and mercies. I need to have the same mind. I need to love you. I need to just pour out his love to you. I can't excuse estrangement any longer and not be in sin. If I walk out of here today doing that, I'm in sin and God's not hearing my prayers. And I'm going to walk into all kinds of doors and potholes and everything else

as God's trying to bring me back to that brokenness before him. You can't do it. We have to have the same mind, having that continuous love. Third, being one in spirit, he says, being one in spirit, literally united in spirit or and I love this souls together or single sold. James says that we're not to be double minded. The double mindedness there in the Greek is to sold.

It talks about having ulterior motives. I'm doing this, but it's with this kind of motive. You know, he says, we're not to be that way. You're not to ask of God mercy, Lord. So you can save me from this terrible predicament that I'm loving. We have to be single, sold, single hearted, single purpose, being of one spirit in this. In other words, you see, there is nothing here.

See, somebody will say when I say this about loving one another. Yeah, but you don't know. You don't know what I've been through. You don't know how he hurt me. You know, we live in a society where we have many of you here may be victims of abuse, victims of spousal abuse, victims of child abuse, victims of sexual abuse. We are in that degenerated society that's going down the toilet

and quick, faster because we're in the last days. We're close to the Lord's coming back. It's going to get worse. There's no amount of governmental spending that's going to make some project that's going to help it get any better. It's only Jesus in the life of a person that's going to change that individual. But you may be the victim of that. You know what you you will the person that did that to you.

You hate you hate with a passion. You cannot stand. You detest them. And as I'm standing here, you know what's coming next. I'm saying that you need to in and before God forgive them, you need to have let God develop a love in your heart towards them. And you're saying, I can't do that. I'm not asking you to do that. God's going to do it in you through you. Let him until you do that.

Until that becomes a point of release in your life. When you can say whatever's necessary, Lord, I went through that for some reason I don't understand. But God, listen, God was there with you when you went through that. And as bad as it was, he withheld his tender mercies, withheld it from being a whole lot worse. And I don't know why you had to go through it. Only he does.

But he's not going to let you just hang there with that thing in your mind. He's going to take the clay and mold it into something beautiful. He has it in mind. He wants to let him be like minded. We can't be exclusive with our love. It's got to be God's love the way Christ loved us. Now, as you do that, that's the greatest evangelistic tool there is. We've gone through Colossians two seven, which is, of course, from Navigators.

It's an excellent course. And we've learned through that how to do the bridge illustration, how to present the gospel with the diagram, with the scriptures. That's great. Many in here have gone through evangelism, explosion, and that's great. Many of you know the four spiritual laws and can present those. Some of you know the Romans Road and how to take somebody through the

the Book of Romans and show them the gospel and lead somebody through it. That's great. That's great. That's great. That's great. That's great. You know what the greatest evangelistic tool is? That right there. Those things developed in your heart, loving continuously of one's spirit. God's love moving through you as you become secure in the fact that that you receive encouragement in his love.

And since you have the fellowship of his spirit and the comfort of his love, the encouragement of being united in Christ and tenderness and mercy is as you realize that and you begin to love somebody else, it explodes. People are drawn to that. It's your loving kindness, the Bible says, that leads us to repentance. Oh, Lord, they've even made a song about that.

As people see that in us, the gospel just goes crazy. Evangelism revival happens as you realize the right motive and begin to move in this way as you begin to act this way. The fourth action, he says here, is being one in purpose. And that really just kind of puts a bookend on the on the first one. Being like minded, they're literally the same thing. It's minding the one thing, being one in purpose, being like minded again.

That's the purpose. That's simple. That's it. It's all loving one another as God has loved you come from the right. Motive. You can't generate it. You can't churn it up. It's got to come as you are realizing that blessing of your encouragement in Christ. Now, as we begin loving one another, it's got to be with the right attitude, right motives, produce right actions.

And then there's a right attitude as versus three and four. Quickly, we'll we'll close verse three. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. But in humility, consider others better than yourself. We're going to have the right attitudes. Right attitudes are going to need we need to do two things. Verse three there is we need to see the importance of others.

That sounds simple, but I mean it. And you need to listen to this and you need to turn it over because it's something you're going to be faced with the minute you get up to walk out of here. You need to see the importance of others. And Paul shows us this two ways. First of all, negatively do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. How do you see others around you?

Are they simply people that are here? Do you sense a relationship with them? Do you know that relationship with them? Do you know the people here? How do you deal with people where you work? Are they simple? Are they simply coworkers? You're just doing a job. You're just doing a project. You'll use them to get ahead. In other words, if there's an opportunity for promotion, you don't mind, you know,

stepping in in front of them, repeating some things that you know about them so you'll know they'll look bad in somebody else's eyes. When you're in Dillon's and you're coming in off of Summit and somebody is coming around the corner on that first parking space and you spy the same open parking space, does your foot go for the gas or for the brake? Just simple things like that, even. See, there's the negative.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition. Selfish ambition, there's wanting your own way. I want it for me. I'm going to do it so I can have it. And I don't care about anybody else. If they get one, that's fine, you know. There's three cookies left in the bag and there's five of us in the family. Well, I'm getting mine, you know. Yeah, they can cut the other two in half.

I don't care. I'm getting my cookie. Even something as simple as that, up to major things in life. Selfish ambition says I want it my way, a desire for personal gain, a desire for popularity, a desire for success. That's it. Popularity, whatever, whatever the cost. When you walk into a room, are you more concerned with how people see you or with seeing other

people and meeting them and seeing if you can see need in their eyes? Are you more concerned with them thinking you're fat? Well, they might as well I am, you know. So why worry about that? Look at the people. They have a need. They are important. So when you even walk into a room, selfish ambition is I hope you notice me in the new shirt and the new pants and the new hairdo.

Or whatever. And not moving in selfish ambition is coming into a room and saying, God, who is it here that you want me to talk to? Where am I supposed to sit? Who should I? And when I sit down next to somebody, it's an opportunity, Lord, so let me talk to them. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. The word there, vain conceit, is just simply empty glory.

Empty glory. You strive for that. You ever done that in a Dillon's parking lot, you know, and there's that open space and you hit the gas and you go up there and somebody's left a buggy right there and you go smash, you know. It's a parking space, but you got a dent in the front of your car as well, on the side of your car. That's vain conceit. You got it, but so what, you know?

Absolutely nothing. It means nothing. The positive side of that is, but in humility, he said, consider others better than yourselves. Do you know that that word humility was always used in the Greek in a derogatory sense until the New Testament came along? The word for humility in the Greek meant meek or mealy-mouthed or no strength at all. Just a pushover.

Right? Just a pushover. Until the New Testament came along and God gave it its place, its proper place as part of love. In humility, consider others better than yourselves, literally considering yourself less as you consider others better. Kind of flies in the face of positive self-esteem, positive self-image. How can you have, how can you be healthy when you consider yourself less and others better?

Isn't that what they say our problem is today? We look at other people and go, oh, they are so much better off than me. They are so much better off than me. No, that's the wrong attitude. It's God. They are worth more than me. They are better than me right now. In this situation, I want to better them. How can you say that and still be healthy? Because of your four motives, the encouragement, since you have encouragement from being united

in Christ. I have that. You're right there. Since I have the comfort of your love. Oh, thank you, Lord. Yes. Since I have the fellowship of your spirit. Atta boy, Mark. You're doing fine. Hang in there. I'm with you. Since I have your tenderness and compassion. That's okay. I can consider myself less. I can consider myself less. You're taking care of me. I don't have to fight for the parking space.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever gone up there to that parking space again, let somebody else have it, and you pull on around thinking, I'm going to end up on the back lot, and you go around the front and somebody's backing out right there in front of the door, and you pull right in. You think that's coincidence? What you sow, you reap. God's blessing.

Those little tender mercies. If you have that, it's easy to consider others better. It's easy to look and say, let them have it, Lord. Let them have it. I don't have to struggle for that. Seeing the importance of others. And finally, the second thing there for the right attitude is showing interest in others. Number four. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

How do you show interest in others? Shut your mouth and listen to them. Serious. When you meet somebody, and part of it is to be concerned for the interests of others, how do you do that? You begin asking them about them. When you're in a conversation with somebody for five minutes, and you leave that conversation, have you spent that five minutes mostly telling them about yourself or listening to them?

When you walk away from a conversation next time, kind of see if you can get away with it. You can take a mental note and see when you left that conversation, did you find out a lot about that person or did they find out a lot about you? See the goal is find out a lot about them. That's why we're here. So we can then minister to a need. Pray with them if necessary.

We got to pray with a stewardess on a plane. We mentioned going out to the pastor's conference earlier this year, because we were interested in them. Not just saying, well, we're on our way to a pastor's conference, whoop-dee-doo. How are you? Do you fly out of here? Is this where you're based and all that? You're interested in somebody else. Be concerned about the interests of others.

The interests of others rather than yourself. We're so concerned that people know who we are, know what we got, know what we can do, know what we're suffering, know what we're trialing with that we could care less about them. Turn it around and you'll be blown away. You'll be blessed out of your socks. Father, this seems so simple, Lord. It is simple. You show us this in your word and you show it to us over and over and over and Lord,

we know the reason that it's so hard is because we're so self-centered. We are a selfish race looking out for number one always. God help us. Help us to have the right motives, Lord, so that we can have the right actions with the right attitude. Help us to see the blessings that we have in you so that we can love one another with that same purpose. That's our purpose.

That's our function is that others can see Jesus, that we see the importance of one another, that we see the interest in one another. Lord help us. As we do that, we show our growth in Christ and we reach this city for Jesus. Help us, Lord, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.