Please turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Philippians. We'll be starting in chapter one, verse 27, and we're gonna read through chapter two, verse four. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirits, 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 selfish ambition 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. Let's pray this morning again. Father, we thank you this morning that we can know in a time of uncertainty that you are unmovable. Your word says to us that the nations rage, the kingdoms totter. When you utter your voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. It is to you that we pray this morning, Father. We pray that you would embolden our hearts. Lord, what words we have given a week that we've just seen. We pray for your church today that they would not be disillusioned. They would not be scatterbrained. They would not be spiritually tangled up into knots. That we would come and we would listen to what you have to say. And we pray this morning that your peace would enter our hearts and it would have its way. That we would not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine that this world seems to bring to bear upon society, but that we would look to you. So we pray, Lord, this morning for our pastor as he is away from us. And I know as his heart beats for us and that this morning he prays for this pulpit that it would give only Christ to your people today. Do this, we pray, Father. I pray for other pulpits in this community in this city. Even the network of people here and the churches gathered this morning here and on the other side of the world that look at all in different sorts of different contexts. But we pray father that nonetheless your word would be held high and be heralded. It would go deep into hearts. And so we pray. Open our ears this morning to hear. Give us warm bodies this morning on this cold morning to participate and listen to the living word. Give us minds that understand what you've said to us and hearts that believe it. Lord open our lives that we would live out this truth this morning we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Good morning. If you have your Bible and I hope you do please do open it if it's not already there to Philippians. Paul's letter to the Philippian congregation will be in chapter two. This is year, I think the beginning of the third year, I think, of my journey through the book of Philippians. But in preparing this, I was encouraged because I think it was just God's perfect timing that we encounter what we find this morning on this week. And I believe in a sovereign God who does such things to encourage our hearts. The outline of the text this morning is very logical, as Paul seems to have the reputation of, is really building an argument and bringing us to action from that. Verses 1 through 5 funnel down from spiritual certainties for the believer to a very direct and very practical application. And then it concludes by not leaving us without an illustration of what that looks like. He points us to our perfect example, Jesus Christ. And as we approach the text today, we encounter the obvious theme that Paul has been really developing in this letter, unity, the unity of the church. And with a year that we've just had and the things that took place this last week, I don't see a theme that could be more relevant for us today. People can come together for any number of reasons for a time, but keeping people together and something else entirely. There are few causes that adequately produce what we really could identify as true, lasting unity among a group of individuals. That is because individuals are seldom on the same page, right? We seldom are in complete alignment. We seldom have the same mind. We may share a lot of things that brings us together for different activities and events or causes. But often our motives can vary. The worldviews that each of us brings can differ. This brings factions and divisions with groups and causes. As many of us know too well, the local church is no exemption to this threat, this reality. And even though believers have been given a new mind and a new heart in Christ, there is still a war that rages within us for our own ambitions, the ambitions of the old man, of our flesh, of this world. And this is precisely why Paul picks up where he does when we begin what we find to be chapter two in our English Bibles. In verse one, Paul captures his audience, because these four items are all sure realities for those who are in Christ. And since these things are true, here's what you do. What plain, beautiful logic for us this morning. Paul, as this church's church planter, if we recall, he was their initial teacher. He wishes this church to blossom into full unity, the beautiful mark of Christianity. This he points out in verse two. In verse 3, he begins to unpack the praxis of these surgencies, of this reality of what binds us together. In verse 4, revealing the heart of that unity with one another. It's having a new attitude. Namely, Christ's attitude. We'll end in verse 5, just mentioning that. Because this all comes before what we see to be a theological mountain in verses 6 through 11, right? To speak of our wonderful Jesus. We're not going to climb the mountain this morning. Instead, we find here a fertile valley with these four signposts of the redemption that we have in Christ. Let's look long at them this morning. So our first point this morning is verse one, the treasures of our redemption through Christ. There are four of them, the treasures of our redemption through Christ. Look at verse one with me. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, and we'll start with verse two, complete my joy. In our English language, it's our English language that provides for us the verbs of these really four, what we would perceive to be incomplete clauses in the Greek. Literally verse one reads, if any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any participation in the spirit, if any affection and sympathy. That's what the Greek literally gives us. However, this isn't to say that these were written in error. No, it's we as the English speaker that we don't really adequately appreciate what Paul is suggesting here without really definitive verbs. For as beautiful as the English language is, it also makes very fickle people. We demand very much when we read. And so we often don't appreciate what Paul is saying here without these definitive verbs. In fact, if you were to read this verse in isolation without any context, you might start to think this is some sort of spiritual questionnaire. Is this true? Is Paul calling these things into question here? Well, no. Really, this isn't some sort of spiritual rubric where you're trying to make sure you get a high score. These are four affirmations. of spiritual guarantees. Paul is saying, these things are true. And we know those things are true because, well, if we remember chapter one, he's already spoken to them. And so he's, he's bringing these things to the front. And really the word since in English is an appropriate rendering for the first term that we have in each of these clauses. And it helps us see what Paul is saying here. Since there is some encouragement in Christ, and I don't mean some as in, well, there's a little bit. No, there's some there. It's there. Since there is comfort of love, since there is participation or fellowship in the Spirit, since there is some affection and sympathy, complete my joy. So as we look at each of these, we can't help but notice four realities of redemption. Four realities. of redemption. There are here four certainties of redemption that Paul lists simply as a summary of the exhaustive blessings that we have in Christ. It's just kind of just a summary of those things. And so let's consider each of these individually. First, a moment. We find here, first of all, in verse one, encouragement in Christ. Since there is encouragement in Christ, And again, let me say that Paul gives each of these is just a plain statement of assurances and salvation. So when we come to encouragement in Christ, we can ask ourselves, what is he referring to? Does he mean the encouragement that Jesus gives? The exhortation that Jesus brought to his followers, which was what? A new commandment. The commandment to what? Love. We read this in John 13. Or is Paul speaking of the encouragement that Jesus brings us as we are in Him. You know, this feeling, this comfort that we gain when we know Jesus, of being adopted into His family. That's comforting. There's encouragement there, of being brought to new life. I mean, is there not encouragement in hearing good news? And this good news being what? That Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, has come and dwelt among us. He's fulfilled all righteousness, and he's brought new life, eternal life, to those who look to him through his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection. Is there not encouragement to be found in the gospel?" Well, of course, to both of these ways of looking at what Paul's saying here, this is emphatic, yes, to this clause, if any encouragement in Christ, yes, indeed, there is encouragement in Christ. Secondly, comfort. So these just kind of build one with another. Comfort from love. Whereas the first clause specifically points us really more to the source of this encouragement or this comfort, namely Christ. This second point affirms the consolation that we have being held in Christ's love and by how we affect one another with that love. Dear friend, is Christ brought relief into your life. Have you found relief in Him at all? Is Jesus the consolation of your soul when that temptation comes to rear its ugly head, when your sin seems to almost overtake you? Is Jesus your consolation, much less when your fellow man disappoints you, like we all saw this last week? When your government is in chaos, when your society is divided, when your income is cut, when your health is ravaged by a virus, is Jesus your comfort? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ enough? Do you believe that the gospel of Christ is strong enough to bear up under all the weight that we feel like we have on our backs and more? You see, there's nothing more heartbreaking for me as a young pastor to see people who claim that the gospel is good for the remedy of people's sin, of their sin. But we settle for statements of diversity or inclusion or political action in our churches to console our troubled hearts during things that took place this last year. We compromise the gospel of its full effect in our lives when we Read God's word right here that says there is encouragement in Christ. There's comfort in his love. And we reply, yeah, but we need to write this and believe this too. May God have mercy on the American church. May God purge American Christianity of its identity politics, its wokeness, and bring us to fully believe that there is encouragement in Jesus. That there is comfort to be had in his love. That the unity of the church is a greater thing and a more lasting thing than those ethnic and those political communities. I can't amen enough what Pastor Dave already directed us to this morning. Which brings us really to the next reality of redemption we see listed here. It speaks to community, right? It speaks of what? The participation, or really the word fellowship, in the spirit. Since there is participation in the spirit, this is our supreme community. The fellowship of the spirit. All racial, ethnic, political, economic communities bow. Really, a lot of them fade into irrelevancy. to this bond that believers have in the Spirit. This participation is an incomparable fellowship. The gospel frees us to see that there is more to us than our family, than to where we came from, than our income, than our heritage, than our gender, than our experiences, than our degrees, than the color of our skin. That is true Christian liberty. There's no barriers. We're one in Christ. And each of those things, as much as they are a part of who God's made us to be, there are times to appreciate those things and to champion those things. They will constantly try to vie, to dominate your identity. And there will even be people in the world, upstanding citizens who will make you feel justified in letting those things dominate your identity. But can I say as your pastor, as your friend, please don't settle for such meager things. The gospel erases the divisions that we put in front of one another. There is something greater here. Something what? Certain. These are realities of Christ in us. Something that lasts, there is participation, there's fellowship in the spirit. Do we not have that here? Because the thing about communities is that we're always drawn to be involved in ones that are active, that are living, right? No one wants to be a part of that Facebook group that was started in 2009, and there's only three members, right? We've all left a group like that, haven't we? But here's where we can easily lose our grip of the gospel. when the offense that Jesus brings is no longer palatable into society, when the comfort of Jesus' love isn't loving enough to a watching world, when it's not comfy enough for the perverted desires of society, the true church will be censored. Why is it that American Christians sing and pray that God would purge us of earth, and yet we clamor about these divisions, these statements of inclusion and diversity according to the world's definition? No. The gospel frees us to lay all of these things down, to hold them loosely. Now, it doesn't mean it's easy. There's certainly a tension. And I think the day is coming, if not already upon us, where true believers are going to have to be distinguished by this fellowship of the spirit. Will it be Jesus or the LGBTQ plus America? Will it be Jesus or the MAGA crowd? Is it going to be Jesus or Black Lives Matter? Will it be Jesus or political correctness? And the list can go on and on and on and on with every year and every tragedy that comes. Not to diminish those tragedies at all. But we as believers have something that brings a remedy to all this. That should bring us together. So let's not be shocked when the dividing line is crossed. Look at what has happened to those who have come before us. We think this is like a contemporary thing. Although Paul is writing in prison because he's tasted of this very thing. But this fellowship of the Spirit is lasting. It's not in vain. It breaks through all these barriers, all these divisions. And it brings with it what? Fourthly, we see here, affection and sympathy in verse one. There is affection and sympathy. And that should be the expected norm of God's people. However, we do a pretty bad job of it, don't we? Even with one another. That's why it's good to recognize here that this term for sympathy is only ever associated with God in the New Testament. Before we get carried away with how well we think we do this or how poor we are at showing sympathy to one another, Paul here is directing us to realize this is all a ministry of God's mercies to us. James Montgomery Boyce makes this observation, this word is always related to God. It is the word that occurs in Romans chapter 12 verse 1, therefore I urge you brothers in the view of God's mercy. It occurs in 2nd Corinthians 1 verse 3, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. And in James chapter 5 verse 11, the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. So don't lose your way in all the distractions of our world. If you are a believer in Christ, you Have mercy from God. If we've been shown such compassion from him, who are we to withhold that from our brothers and sisters in Christ? And the church in 2020 saw a great, great number of divisions. In places and between people, we never even would have expected it. We still feel that tension even today. But can we let the mercies of God have their full effect here at Calvary Bible Church? Can we believe that, you know what, maybe Philippians Chapter 2 is the healing balm that we need as a church going into a new year. Perhaps you thought that I've treaded a little bit too closely to a lot of the contemporary things going on in our world today. But can I say to you, there's nothing more relevant than what God has to say about these things. We can never escape how true scripture is for us today. And we better buckle up because Paul is about to meddle. Because we see here, this text brings to light an apostolic concern. It's not just Paul, but it's a concern that the apostles had at large. When we encounter these four realities of Christ's redemption featured in this verse, we really see this apostle, the least of the apostles, Setting the stage for an exhortation that is warranted by a deep concern among all the church fathers. And this is not the only time Paul speaks with this language in the book of Ephesians chapter 4. Listen to these six verses in Ephesians chapter 4 and see if this sounds familiar to what we heard in our scripture reading earlier. Ephesians 4 says, Therefore I, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you are called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who was over all and through all and in all." Matthew Henry describes this concern as the like-mindedness of the church. and the lowly mindedness of the church. And it goes without saying that this is still a concern for the church leadership today. There are such wonderful realities in the gospel, truly there are none greater. Yet history can sadly report the great evils and abuses and injustices of those who have claimed the gospel for themselves on behalf of themselves. Don't forget that Paul was experiencing, look at verse 30 of chapter one, right before verse one here in chapter two, what? Conflict. And this isn't so much conflict from without the church. Sure, we'd expect that, but he's saying there's conflict within the church. There were, as there still is today, a group of people who identify with the gospel and yet carried themselves in an ambitious manner that was unworthy of the gospel of Christ. So these four points are a complement to Paul's exhortation that I'm trying to refresh our memory from the two years we've gone through chapter one. But we see in verse 27 of chapter one. And so let echo here what the apostles concern for Philippi is and let that echo to us today at Calvary Bible Church that let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. It's been critically said that during the Allies' struggle against the Axis powers during the Second World War, that the United States and the Soviet Union were not actually allies. They only had the same enemy. And this becomes blatantly clear given the Cold War between the two countries that transpired over the decades following their shared victory in Europe. Such can be the case though of any relationship that is built around a common enemy and an ambitious party with another. Once the common enemy is removed, the fellowship fades, the unity that was once perceived turns out to just be a mirage. And that's the reality that Paul was trying to warn against in the Philippian church. Paul has felt the bitter pains of such disappointment. I mean, He writes throughout the New Testament of ministry partners who have forsaken him because of selfish ambition. And he opens his heart here to this dear church, as he writes, so to spare them the same heartache that he's felt. And it's here, sitting in the light of these wonderful realities we have in verse one, that we must expose the underlying threat of our individual ambitions to the unity of the church. There is no greater threat to the unity of the church than our own independent, individual, selfish ambitions. So having reminded his audience of what is true, he calls them to live in light of those realities. So let this be true of you, he says. In verse two, which is our second point here, the treasures of redemption bring complete joy. The treasures of redemption bring complete joy. Look at verse two with me. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Complete my joy." Now, as we come to this, it's like, what is it for another human being to exhort a church to complete his joy? Right? Is Paul playing out of bounds here? Well, let's remember, Paul hasn't just any random person to this church. A quick review of everything in chapter one would clearly indicate that this man has literally woven his life around the health and the growing of this congregation. He was there at the very conception of this church membership and he had in many ways shepherded them as they grew. Here we find something that perhaps you'll have to take my word for it, only a pastor can truly appreciate. to labor with all your shortcomings and all your own problems, to see God bring another pilgrim into the narrow way. And to see another faithfully, by the guidance of the Spirit, keeping in step with the Spirit, there is no greater joy for a pastor. There's joy there. And so Paul is simply spilling that out from his heart. It's just to be a benefit to us, to see the role and the care that there ought to be and the pastors and the elders of a church. So this should help us appreciate the ministry of under shepherds and the service of the good shepherd as he, Paul here, by these words, knits a stronger personal bond with these dear folk. And it couldn't be clearer about what that means. It means unity. And he says this in two different ways, really. These two clauses repeat and affirm one another. First we see, have the same mind or be of one mind. Simply put, this text is calling for each person in Christ to share the same viewpoint. This term appears 10 times in these four chapters. And we won't even move to the next verse without it showing up a second time. This is a mindfulness that is informed by the fellowship of the Spirit of Christ and demonstrates the very mind of Christ. For as much as it also means that we have a growing alignment and doctrinal understanding and theological things. As new creatures, we have a new understanding about ourselves and about the world, about God and his word. No longer do we operate according to our own understanding. Rather, we exalt Christ by how we think. And what is the mind of Christ? Well, Paul explains that in the following verses in That's that theological mountaintop that we aren't going to quite scale today. Maybe I'll get to it by next year. But for now, let it suffice to say that it is a mind that operates not according to our own rights and privileges, but in accordance to meet the needs of others in love. And that's why he says here, secondly, in this verse, have the same love. Be in full accord. Paul explains what it is to have the same mind when he says, have the same love. In seeking to guard this congregation from factions and divisions, Paul appeals to the reality that it takes great love to mend a splintered community. This Paul exhorts us to the love of Christ, who says in John 15, 13, what greater love hath no man than this. Someone lays down his life for his friend. This is Self-sacrificing love, demonstrated by Christ, that will instruct the spirit guided humility Paul is exhorting in this next verse. But first, let's look at this phrase, to be of full accord, it says in verse two. The best expression that I think we have in the English language to really capture what it means when it says to be in full accord, is our English expression soulmate. We're called to be soulmates. One with another. This is a bond that moves beyond membership around a common doctrinal statement. Okay, yes, that needs to be there. But this is a holistic care for one another. A care that is so strong and deep that even differing perspectives on minor issues isn't going to sever the union that we have. How sad it is when folks can be of the same mind, and yet not care about the soul of another person of that same mind. Doubtless, this was Paul's concern for this congregation. Perhaps it was at the very heart of what we'll see eventually in this letter, at the heart of a particular issue where Paul calls out some people by name to address a discord that was going on. So what is it? that makes such unity in mind and spirit possible? Well, thirdly, this morning, something has to go. For this to be possible, something has to go. In verse 3, we find the answer to the, how is it all possible question. Verse 3 says what? Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, Count others more significant than yourselves. Something has come, so something has to go. What is that? Selfish ambition. Purge away selfish ambition and conceit. For as much as one might get the idea that we all maybe walked into the study in Philippians thinking, oh, this is a perfect church. Paul knew them all too well. For as much as we might to think they couldn't do anything wrong, Paul writes to address an ever pressing danger to the unity of the body and of the fullness of his joy. That's what? This underlying threat of our own selfish ambitions. For Paul had already indicated in this letter in verse 17 of chapter one, you can probably just look right up and see it. How selfish ambition among some in Rome had sought to harm him in his imprisonment. Nevertheless, what? The gospel was still given. And in that, Paul still celebrated and rejoiced. However, here Paul levels with these dear saints to exhort them to complete his joy in giving of the gospel in a harmonious unity. And if the gospel can go out when people do it with poor motives, oh my, the glory that can be had. And we do it in tandem together. So something has to go. And Paul says, it's our own ambitions. There's no room for that in the church. Selfish ambition. What we mean by that is rivalry, competition, egotism. This is a common vice that Paul addresses really throughout all of his New Testament letters to the churches. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he writes of it. to the church in Galatians chapter 5 he writes of it. Romans chapter 2 verse 8, he condemns selfish ambition in the congregants. And oh the plague that selfish ambition is. When people buy into the church just enough to build their own little kingdom. This attitude can be for countless reasons, but they all by definition are self-seeking Egotistic. And it's sad to say it, but often selfish ambition can easily be masked behind legitimately good causes and good ministries. Again, recall how Paul indicated in chapter one, that there were those who were preaching the true gospel, but out of selfish ambition. It is selfish ambition that leads a congregation to lose its way in admirable, Nonetheless, lesser things than the ministry of the word. Have we not seen churches do this? Here we see Holy Scripture making very clear that there are no sacred cows in the kingdom. There's only Jesus. And that can be a difficult pill to swallow for a church that is entrenched in traditions. or that is perpetuated by personalities, or that is super busy with a ton of ministries that have people searching for ego trips. The truth is there are no badges to be earned in true biblical ministry. There's no competition here for grace. And shame on us if we ever lose our way in such things. For that would lead to conceit, which is what accompanies this term here in this verse. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. And conceit speaks of vanity, of boastfulness, of being all polished on the outside, but lacking any true substance on the inside. That's a conceited person lives spiritually insecure, constantly trying to put other people down, centering all the dialogue back to themselves as they seek to find the highest and the most predominant position or recognizable place in a congregation. These are folks who, to be frank, always have something to say. And it may sound spiritual, but when you really listen to it, it just does not make sense in God's economy of grace. Vain conceit creates phantom spiritual milestones that stroke our self-image. And it speaks of ideas like emptying out the negativity. Or I'm removing toxic influences. Or forgiving yourself. Or giving something over to God like you're doing him a favor. Or this, I can't stand this fascination of our generation, and much in the church even, of this idea of hashtag self-love. These are people who get baptized multiple times. What symptoms of conceit these are? Now, obviously, not everybody means the same things when they say those things. So I'm not trying to stomp on, crush some people's toes, okay, with that. But what I am trying to do is guard us from this token like Christianity, where it's all about this next little Babs that you can achieve. This idea that really speaks to all of life being all about you. Selfish ambition and conceit must go. That's not where verse three ends. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Serve one another in humility rather than seek your own position of ambition. In the place of one's drive to rule over others in a sort of competition for a position of grace or attention, Paul instructs a shift in our thinking. No longer are we to consider ourselves as primary candidates for attention in the body of Christ. We must prioritize others. Selfish ambition and conceit are out. Humility must enter in. Why humility, right? That's the question that's really at the back of all of our minds. Why does it have to be that way? Why is the way up in the kingdom downward? as we've heard it put. It's because there is a God and it's not you. Do I sound like Pastor Eric? This world is not all about you. It's not all about me. All of life is all about God. Psalm 100 verse 3 states profoundly, know, know this, that the Lord, He is God. It is He who made us and we are His. We are his people on the sheep of his pasture. And this change, this shift in our hearts and in our thinking can only come by the regeneration of the Spirit of God, causing us to see ourselves and our sin for what they are, and humbly finding our place beneath his hand of mercy. That being said, what is it to live out humbly with one another? How is that possible? It sounds great. Paul, right? The reality is that this is only possible because we've been liberated, as we've already talked about, this liberty that the gospel brings. We're liberated from being slaves to sin in Christ, because it is His grace, Christ's grace, that not only allows this humility to dwell in us, but it is the Spirit of Christ who trains our hearts and minds to actually live in that humility. You see, it is only the gospel of Jesus Christ that frees a person to live in humility without being conceited. And that's what brings us to verse number four and our fourth point this morning. Here's what you do. Here it is. Here's what you do. Something had to go. So here's what you do. Look at verse four. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. If you've seen the logic here, verse one gives us the realities, then he funnels that down. And verse three, it's like, be humble. And we're like, okay, that sounds spiritual, Paul. How do we make that happen? Verse four, he's going to meddle. I hope he meddles in your life with this. What? Look out for one another. We all know what that means. What does it mean? To do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself. What it means? You don't simply look out for yourself, but you look for the cares of other people. This is the spiritual discipline of deference. The spiritual discipline of deference. And it is a spiritual discipline. Why? Because humility and deference completely rubs against every grain and every fiber of our being as a natural person. We believe it to be an upside down way of doing life by living in humility. Yet this is the instruction of Paul. It is, this is the way of the Lord. To defer to someone else is to put their need or their request before your own. To deny your own preference or your own right for the benefit of someone else. Typically someone unworthy of such grace from you. It should be no surprise for us to know that this was a rather foreign concept in the day and age of the early church. And while Greek philosophers by that time had exalted this self debasement of the individual to the divine order of the universe, whatever that meant, such thinking was not highly regarded in the Roman world. The reason being that this humility didn't simply mean doing stuff that was kind of humble or looked down on society. It was actually having a low and honest view of yourself. rather than merely doing humble duties. Humility meant weakness, lack of freedom, servility, and subjection, all too base for an upstanding Roman citizen. Oh no, humility was the character trait expected of slaves in that day and age. Now a careful observation to be made is that this text is not advocating for deprivation that some have called for in the name of Christ. This is not the same thing as what the Plutonian school of thought exalted in Paul's day. The text still makes clear in verse four that what there are still legitimate interests that we must not neglect for ourselves. There have been those who teach that true followers of Christ should just abandon all ties of anything that a typical person should depend on for daily commerce and sustenance. These have even been those who sought to advocate a sort of communism or socialism from the teaching of the early church. But let's distinguish this. The Bible teaches generosity with what you have. Socialism teaches generosity with what other people have. Those are not the same thing. Scripture is very clear that responsibilities, that there are responsibilities of the husband and the wife to their spouse, of the parent, to their children, that they are to work and to guard, to nourish and to provide. To neglect those things is to neglect the very fundamentals of the creation mandate. So what is this verse really calling us to? Well, I'd be doing an injustice to the text and to you if I just said, be humble. Okay, now get out of here. You know, Paul gives us some things that should weave into our daily living. There are practical steps here. So take some measurable steps here. Number one, look out for one another, not just yourself. Simply put, it's right there in the text. We know what that means. Don't leave this simply a concept to keep in your head. You can literally schedule this sort of stuff in your calendar. You can actually budget this kind of stuff at the beginning of every month into your finances. This means two things, though. One, pray for humility. to make room in your schedule, to make room in your budget, make room at your table, in your home for people. The fact of the matter is that you will make time for what is most important to you and you will budget for what is the priority in your life. Second, be willing to receive this. Pray for humility to accept God's means of grace to you through the hands and feet of the church. Let not pride shut the door of God's provision for you through your brothers and sisters. Let's be honest. Do we really know one another well enough to do this? Do we live honestly with ourselves and one another enough to give ourselves to this humble looking after one another? It will only come as we value the realities that Paul sets out in verse one. That we all share these things in Christ. This participation of the Spirit. This comfort of his love and the relief that he brings. Complete my joy in doing these things. We've all heard it said, joy, J-O-Y, Jesus, others, yourself. This is the way up in the kingdom, it's down. And here's the key to applying the exhortations of scripture, even when they don't want to flow naturally out of our hearts, even when we don't feel like doing this. You know what the key? to seeing this happen is? Write this down. It's a very important word. Obedience. Do you know that obedience is the very best way to show that you believe? Giving yourself to this exhortation prepares your heart and mind to feel and long and know the love of our Savior. For this is where Paul leaves us today. And here we conclude. with an example. What does this look like? Fifthly, and just in conclusion here, we're not going to ascend the mountaintop yet. But oh, how fertile this valley has been for us. Jesus is our example of humility. Number five, Jesus is our example of humility. Verse five says what? Have this mind, have all that, everything one through four, have it all among yourselves, which is yours, in Christ Jesus. This is the mind of Jesus. Though everything we've looked at today can easily get overshadowed by the Christological treatise that follows in verses 6 through 11, what follows really is given as an illustration of the point Paul has made in verses 1 through 4. Everything that comes after this is an illustration of what we just looked at this morning. We have a Savior who has entered in to not just redeem us from sin, but to instruct us in righteousness. That our living would be Christ, as Paul says in Philippians chapter one, right? For me to live is Christ. Here's what it looks like. We're not above doing what our Lord calls us to in his own condescension. This is the mind of Christ, who looked not for his own interests, but look first after the interest of others, namely the Father, right? Not my will, but thine be done. It is my prayer that these gospel realities would rightly humble us. That we as believers would come to know the liberty that we have in Christ from doing life in competition with other believers for God's grace. And that selfish ambition and vain conceit would be rooted out in this body. For they truly are the underlying threat to the unity of God's church. Let's pray. God, we thank you this morning for this exhortation that we have. And it's not just the Apostle Paul giving us his best thoughts. This is the exhortation. This is the mind of Christ. This is the encouragement of the Lord to us. Father God, we pray this morning that you have softened our hearts. that you've allowed us to hold loosely these things that clamor for our identity, or these lesser things that the world will never be able to be free of apart from your grace in Jesus. Father, we thank you for this grace. We pray that it would humble us, that it would give us eyes and ears to see and to know one another in a way that we care for one another, that we look after one another. Lord, the American church has days ahead of it where we will need to know that on a local level more than I think we ever have in our lifetime. God, give us grace to do this, we pray. And may we praise you now for the grace that we have. And Holy Spirit, we pray that you would do this work in our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.