You'd open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2 as we continue our study through this wonderful letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi. Remember, Paul is in prison and he is writing to this church that supports him fully in his ministry. We'll be looking this morning at Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, a most powerful passage that Paul writes to these believers in Philippians 2 verses 1 through 4. 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. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Father, I pray as we look at this most stunning passage that you would open our hearts and minds. That you would change us. By our understanding of this passage through the power of your Holy Spirit in Jesus name we pray. Amen. It is a true statement I have found in my many years of ministry that it is a true statement that many people are looking for the perfect church. R.C. Sproul used to say that if you ever find one, don't go there because once you do, it will no longer be perfect. I believe that is sound advice. My firsthand knowledge of this church would indicate that there are plenty of sinners sitting here this morning. Even though redeemed by the blood of Jesus, we yet sin. And as we continue to look at the Philippian church in our studies, it is true that it is a strong, lively, loving church. Yet we need to understand that this church at Philippi, like any church, had problems to be dealt with. The church is full of sinful people. There's no church on Earth then that does not have to deal with sinful activity. And one of the churches, one of the issues in the church at Philippi appears to be bickering among some of the members. Look ahead at chapter 4 verse 2. Paul says this, I entreat you Odea and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. That's Paul's encouragement for two ladies to get along. There's something going on in the church that is not so good. There is certainly some bickering among the members. Now, in our passage this morning, Paul is going to deal with this very issue, this issue of disunity in the church, this issue of spiritual disunity. Again, let me read verses 1 through 2, and then we'll try and explain these. These are difficult verses, but I think we can get at the heart of their meaning. 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. In verse 1, Paul says to the Christians at Philippi that if you have these things, if you have any encouragement in Christ, if you have any comfort in love, if you have any participation in the Spirit, if you have any compassion from Jesus, if you have any mercy from Jesus, Then you ought to display those very things to one another. It's a very simple but strong point. In other words, if Christ has shown compassion to you. To you, an undeserving sinner. How can you not have compassion for others? Again, if you have comfort and encouragement from Christ in your life, how can you not be comforting and encouraging to others in the church? Again, if you have fellowship with the Spirit, how can you not have fellowship with other believers in the church? Why and how can there be bickering in this church body? Paul says, how can there be bickering in this church body, especially among people who have been brought from darkness to light by the work of Jesus? Because of what Christ has done for us, the bickering between believers needs to stop. Now, Paul's not scolding them. Paul has great joy in regard to the Philippian church. He loves these people. We saw that clearly in chapter one of the letter. How he loves the Philippian believers. But now he says that he would have complete joy. Yes, I have joy in you, Paul says, but now make my joy complete by not disagreeing. by not arguing, by not bickering with one another in the church. Rather, in verse 2, Paul says, complete my joy. How? By being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Paul's joy would be full if the Philippian Christians were of the same mind, had the same love, were in full accord, Indeed, Christians ought to be one in their affections. They should agree in the great things of God, and they should love Christ with all their hearts, and therefore they should love one another. Listen to what Jesus teaches in John chapter 13, verse 34, he tells his disciples a new commandment I give to you. that you love one another. But listen to what he says. Just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. You see the very sound of our loving one another in this church is the love that Jesus has shown to us. And so Paul is exhorting these people, he's encouraging these people to spiritual unity because of what Christ has done for them. That ought to lead to oneness of purpose and to think and believe the right things together and to love one another. Each one of us here this morning, I believe, would easily say, yep, Paul's right. Of course he's right. Yes, we as believers in this church at Ballantyne, we need to have Christian unity. We need to walk together in Christ and we need to love one another in this congregation. I think we would all say amen to that. But the question is this, how do we obtain that spiritual unity? How do we obtain the oneness of mind and purpose? Well, in verses three and four, Paul provides for the church at Philippi four ways to spiritual unity in a church. You need to pay close attention here. We really ought to desire this. We ought to have a burning desire to have this in our church, spiritual unity and love for one another. And Paul is going to give us, through the Philippian church, four means to spiritual unity. Look what he says. We're going to go through these one at a time, briefly. Number one, do nothing from rivalry, he says in verse three. Do nothing from rivalry. In reality, a very good translation for the word rivalry is selfishness. It's strange, but listen to what Paul says. Paul's first means to attaining spiritual unity in a church is that its members would not be selfish. Do nothing from selfishness. I was praying about this passage when I was studying it a few weeks ago, thinking how countercultural Paul is. How countercultural are these statements? Because we live in a society, as they did in the Roman society, that has mastered the act of putting self first. We are absolutely preoccupied with the self. Self-indulgence reigns. Self-interest dominates. Self-will and self-centeredness are our creeds. Paul Witts, a famous Christian psychologist, wrote a book called Self, The God of Our Worship. Self is a real and abiding danger and a snare to unity in the church. Martin Luther once said he was more afraid of the great pope self than all the other popes in Christendom. The unfortunate reality is. We live in a world, in a society, in a church, where many of us spend our lives looking out and looking at ourselves. Now, Paul had used this very word earlier in the letter. Look what he says. Do nothing from rivalry. Now, let's go back to chapter one, verse 17. When Paul was talking about the different types of preachers in Rome and what does he say about the not so good preachers in verse 17 the former proclaim Christ out of rivalry. That's the same word they are proclaiming Christ out of selfishness. Again understand To Paul, selfishness is a great hindrance and obstacle to church unity and to spiritual unity. Our prayer should be self get out of the way. Number two. Verse 3 Paul says, do nothing from rivalry or conceit. Do nothing from conceit. Pride is terribly divisive. It is an exaggerated self-evaluation that again puts self first. Hudson Taylor, the well-known missionary to China during the 19th century, was once asked by his wife, are you proud of anything? He answered, proud about what? And she said, the many things you have done and accomplished. Hudson Taylor responded, I never knew I had done anything. We need to be honest with ourselves Be honest about ourselves. As Paul says in Romans, chapter 12, verse three, listen to this passage very closely. Paul says this, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But to think with sober judgment. each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Hudson Taylor clearly understood that it was not him at work. It was the Lord at work that any success might have that one might have in the Christian life or in the Christian walk is due to the power and work and grace of Jesus Christ. Only Christ is all powerful and all sufficient. We don't need pride. And we don't need self-sufficiency. What we need is self-denial. That is counter-cultural to 21st century America to say to someone, what we need is self-denial. But it's right. It's true. It's good. Think of all that we have received from the mercy of God. What do we have to be proud of? If you're going to boast, boast in Christ Jesus. Do not boast in self. This leads to Paul's third way of Christian unity in a church. Second half of verse three, do nothing from rivalry, from selfishness, do nothing from conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Richard Halverson said, The greatest men are humble before God. The tallest men are those who bend before God. Humility is also putting others before ourselves. It is not thinking of ourselves because we are genuinely thinking of others. recently read a story of Dr. Alexander White of Edinburgh, Scotland, famous professor of theology. A man came to see him about a recent meeting that had taken place in the city of Edinburgh. An itinerant preacher had come to a meeting to preach and this itinerant preacher had the habit of attacking other preachers in the city where he was holding his meetings. The man who had gone to the meeting, the reporter, came to Dr. White and he said, Dr. White, do you know what this itinerant preacher said? He said that Dr. Hood Wilson was not a converted man. He's another theology professor in Edinburgh. Dr. White was indignant and he went in a rage. He leaped from his chair and he yelled, that rascal, that rascal, Dr. Wilson, not a converted man. The reporter continued, that's not all he said, Dr. White. He said that you weren't a converted man either. Dr. White sat back in his chair in stunned silence, put his face in his hands and said to the reporter in a pleading voice, leave me, my friend, leave me. I must examine my own heart. Humility requires that we be honest with ourselves and be charitable toward others. Spiritual unity in the church derives from placing others before ourselves. The fourth means that Paul gives us is in verse four. He says, let each of you, each of you in the church, look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. The verse literally says this, let each of you not look only to himself, but look to others. Matthew Henry, the great Puritan commentator, said on this verse, A selfish spirit is destructive of Christian love. A selfish spirit is destructive of church unity. It is destructive of peace, purity, and spiritual unity in the church. I don't mean to be too hard, and I'm certainly not scolding. In fact, I'm looking at myself here, but it appears to me that Christians today are much too concerned with themselves and how things are going to affect me. But what Paul is saying to us is one of the great marks of a Christian is that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to put others first. Oh reigning pride, oh reigning self, get off the throne. D.A. Carson, many of you know that name, Don Carson, a number of years ago was interviewing Carl Henry for an article. Carl Henry was a very important figure in evangelicalism in the 1950s through the 1980s. He founded the magazine Christianity Today, was one of the driving forces in what's called neo-evangelicalism, and he wrote some of the most influential works on theology and culture. In any event, Dr. Carson asked Carl Henry, Dr. Henry, you have been at the center of attention in evangelicalism for over half a century. How have you stayed humble? Dr. Henry tried to divert things from himself, and he said, quote, Don. It's hard to be prideful. When you're standing at the foot of the cross. Dr. Henry understood what Paul is teaching in our passage. How can members of a church bicker with one another while standing in the shadow of the cross? How can we be selfish and self-centered and prideful when we reside at the foot of the cross? Isaac Watts. In a hymn that we're going to sing later to close our service, when I survey the wondrous cross, put it this way. When I survey the wondrous cross. On which the Prince of Glory died. My richest gain I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. Amen and Amen. Father, May our eyes be drawn to Jesus. May both of our eyes be drawn to Jesus. Take away our pride. Our hubris. Our self-centeredness, so Lord. And may we be good soldiers of our captain. Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.