What I'm thankful about that song and about the truth in general is it's the Lord that's got a hold of us, not the other way around. It was up to me to hold on to Him. I'd never make it. But the Bible tells me that I am in His hand and no man can pluck me from that place. And I'm thankful from the day I was saved until the day He calls me home. I am secure in the love of the Father through Christ. That ought to make us excited, church. We should be thrilled and give glory and praise to God for how good He's been to us. With that being said, I invite you again to turn with me to the book of Philippians. We've been in this book for a few weeks now going through this series about rejoicing in all things. And sometimes it's hard to have joy in certain situations and even in this whole world that we're in. But Philippians is a book of joy. I want to reaffirm that to you and reiterate that to you this morning that we are looking at a letter that was written from terrible circumstances. Paul is in jail, not certain what his future may hold, but he knows who holds his future, and he can rejoice in the fact that he is Christ, safe in his hand, and has joy, and this letter reflects that throughout. And I also want to say that God is always on time, amen? He has exactly what we need, when we need it. And so, I was thinking about this week, as our church is growing, overwhelmingly faster than we ever expected and with that brings new questions, new problems, new opportunities. I mean a lot is involved in a growing church and I would much rather face those things than the problems that a dying church is facing. And so I'm thankful for that. But I thought about this week and I've thought about this question many times over the years and talked to other pastors as well. And if you asked me or asked a pastor in general, I believe that overwhelmingly the answer to the question, what is your greatest concern for a growing church? What is the one area where you as a pastor, me as a pastor feels that we have got to spend constant discernment on to make sure that the enemy doesn't get a foothold in this place. I would overwhelmingly say it is in the area of unity, of the unity of the church, because a house divided cannot stand. And so I think that it is so important for us as a growing church to hear this message today and to hear it often. Because I can tell you, even in the best of churches, even in the healthiest of churches, the enemy will seek to divide his people. And that is the case in any church I have ever seen, including this one. And so I hope and pray that today this message will resonate in your heart. Not preaching to anyone else today, I'm preaching to you. And so, with that being said, I'm going to ask if you're able to stand with me one last time. We're only going to look at the first four verses of the second chapter of Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. Verses 1-4, Paul writes, Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Father, help us today, Lord, to hear your voice and to heed and bow before you in reverence and obedience to whatever it is that you're calling us to do. Lord, I pray today for those that may be straying from you, that they would be brought to that place of repentance that we talked about in Sunday school, that they would turn from their sin, turn from their wayward ways and come back to you, Lord, as you are ready to forgive and restore them. And Father, we pray for those here today, those watching online that don't have a relationship with you. Lord, before they can be united to the church, they need to be reunited to Christ. And I pray today, Lord, that this would be the time where you call them and they answer. So have your way in our hearts and in our minds, Lord. Thank you for all you do for us and all you mean to us. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. I want to start by asking two questions, as I often do. The first one being, have any of you ever been to California to the Sequoia National Park to see those giant trees? Has anybody ever been out there? I see a few of you that have been out there. I wanted to show a picture just to get a general idea. You can see just how massive those trees are, whether it's on a photograph or in person. The interesting thing I found out about those trees is the roots are very shallow on those. You would think that trees that sometimes can reach a height of 300 feet would have to have this anchor deep down into the ground to keep them from collapsing, but the fact is the roots are shallow. So what keeps these massive trees standing when these storms come for all these years? that they have been able to endure storms and weather and all of the things. It is because those shallow roots grow together. They are intertwined together. And so they form this bond, if you will, that enables them to have a foundation that cannot be shaken. I want us to think about those trees and how that image relates to us as a church. No matter where you're at in your walk, a seasoned mature believer or a brand new Christian, what we need to be secure is one another. We need the unity of the body together to withstand the storms and the attacks that come against all of God's people. Now I want to ask you a second question. If God came to you today, in person, and said to you that you had 24 hours left to live. What would you pray about? What would your prayer life look like if you knew that you had 24 hours left on this earth? Jesus was faced with that situation. And so I think it is telling for us to look at His life and see what it was in those final hours and that last day that Jesus decided was important enough to pray about in those moments. And that prayer is found in the 17th chapter of John. I encourage you to read that chapter if you never have. It's the longest recorded prayer in the Bible. And we see Jesus sharing His heart, not only for His disciples that were with Him, but for you in this room today. Yes, Jesus looked through the corridors of time, And He prayed for you then, and He prays for you now, as our Great High Priest. He lives to make intercession for His people. But I want you to see one verse from that prayer in John 17. It's verse 21. And this is from the New Living Translation, which I don't regularly use. But I like how it brought this out, and I want you to hear it in a more readable translation. So, it says there, Jesus praying shortly before He would be betrayed and crucified. He says, I pray that they, who's the they? You. and the church down the street, and the church across the world, and the church throughout time. Believers is who he's talking about. I pray that they will all be one. Just as, so here's the example, just as you and I, Father, are one. As you are in me, Father, and I am in you, and may they be in us so that the, why? Look at this, so that the world will believe that you sent me. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to unbelievers is to look at the way that the churches are always at each other. And there are times when we need to separate from false teaching and false churches. That's not the case here. I'm talking about true brothers and sisters who meet in different buildings. They're not the enemy. All right, just making sure. I don't think they're the enemy. They're not mine. If they're yours, I'm sorry. I didn't want to step on your toes, but they're not the enemy. They worship in a different building. They may have some different secondary beliefs, but they are not the enemy. And we have got to be, church, not only united in this place, but united with the brethren outside of this place. We have got to be willing to stand together. This is not a message of kumbaya, every belief comes together and we're all going the same way, the same path. Again, if there are doctrinal disagreements to the foundational stuff, we can't fellowship with that. But we can certainly join hands for the cause of Christ and in the doctrines that we believe are essential. And the world needs to see that. It needs to see a unified church, unified believers. But I'm speaking today to us because this is the church that God has put me over to oversee as your shepherd. And so I want to speak to us and the unity that is required here at Caruso, which is no different than any other church. I want to read to you a quote from John MacArthur's commentary on Philippians. I thought this was really good. It was too long to put in a slide, but I want you to hear it. MacArthur says, quote, disunity among his people deeply grieves the Lord. It should be every pastor's, church leaders' and church members' prayer that men will not tear asunder what God has divinely joined together in the body of Christ. Fracturing Christ's church is one of Satan's major objectives. The challenge to preserve the unity of the Spirit is constant. A divided, factious, and bickering church is spiritually weak. It therefore offers, listen, little threat to the devil's work and has little power for advancing the gospel of Christ." End quote. A divided church offers little threat to the devil's work. You know what I want more than anything? I want the devil to absolutely hate Caruso Baptist Church. I want God's presence and power to be so evident in this place and when we leave this place that the enemy has us on the top of his list. Because I'm not afraid of his attacks. I certainly respect his power and his ability to cause problems, but not more than my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I think too often we give the devil so much credit and power in our lives, and he's already been crushed under the feet of my Savior. And we walk around in fear and discouragement, not realizing that the victory is already ours. Church, I want you to be able to live a life devoted to Jesus, so the moment that your alarm goes off and you roll out of bed, the enemy says, oh no, he's got another day. And I want you to go out and live for Jesus. That's what I want to see and that's why it encourages me when I see you doing those things. It is the biggest joy to a pastor to see his people walking in truth and to living out their faith. And I'm not afraid that the enemy puts us in his crosshairs. I would much rather that than to be so dead and so divided that he doesn't need to do anything with us. because we've already killed ourselves with friendly fire. Right? And so, MacArthur's quote causes me to be encouraged to say that if attacks come against me or the church, I must be doing something right. We must be doing something right, or the enemy would leave us alone. And so, the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer. Make us one. What united us and unites us as believers is the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. But just because you're saved and with the Holy Spirit in you, does not mean that we always live that way. So practically speaking, yes, we're united by our salvation in Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit, guys. But we still are called to live that out every day. And that's where the battle takes place. Because the flesh is not willing to allow us to do that. And so there are going to be in this message my traditional three points, but there's going to be a lot of little sub points, okay? So you might have to take some bullet point notes, okay? It's not a long message, I promise, but there's just a lot of things I want you to see, because Paul really just like makes a list, okay? Matter of fact, In our Bibles, we have things broken down into verses, but our verses 1 through 4 in the Greek, it's one big long sentence. So Paul was like, took a deep breath and just let it all go, okay? And so he's got a lot to say without taking a breath. And so I'm going to take a breath and give you a chance to take a breath, but I want you to see these things. Number one, there are right motives for us to have spiritual unity. And by the way, that is the title of my message, Spiritual Unity. There are right motives for spiritual unity. So again, Paul begins verse one of chapter two with that word that you hear me talk about all the time, and that is therefore, which points us back to something that was previously said. In this case, It is pointing us back specifically to verse 27, which is one of the verses I preached on last week Why does it point us back to verse 27 and in context the things surrounding that but in verse 27 again? I'll read it to you He says only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I am come and see you or am absent I may hear of your affairs now. Here's the part that you may stand fast, so this is the defensive side, we are taking a position and standing fast in one spirit, so there's the unity, right? Defensively standing together in one spirit and offensively with one mind we are striving, we are going forward together for the faith of the gospel. So we are standing together in one spirit, and we are striving together in one mind. Okay? And that is the therefore, because of that, because hopefully that is the way that not only the Philippian church was living, but we are living because of those things, we are united. And so then he goes on to say, therefore, and the very next word is if. Now, in our language, when we see that word, we think of it as a condition. If you do this, then this will happen. In the Greek, there are, and I'm not going to confuse you, there are different what's called participles. And so, in this situation, the word if is not saying if you do this, this will happen. Quite frankly, you could cross off the word if there and put since. in its place. So what Paul is saying is, if this is true, and it is, this is what's going to happen. You with me? It's not a conditional thing. It's because this is true, this is what's going to follow. The thing that is true is they were striving together in one mind and one spirit. If that's true, these are the things that are going to follow. You with me? Okay. So, therefore looks back if or since looks forward. Got me? Okay, let's look at these. He says these things are going to follow. Number one, under this point, there is consolation, some translations there say, encouragement in Christ. Interesting word that Paul uses there. It is the same word that he uses for the Holy Spirit. Paracletus. It means someone that comes alongside of you. Remember Jesus said, I'm going to go away and when I leave I will send you the comforter? That's the same word. Okay? And so the idea is someone that comes alongside of us. In other words, Jesus has not left us alone. He went back to the Father, but He didn't leave us to figure this out on our own. He sent someone to live in us, to walk with us, to encourage us in this journey of the Christian walk. And because we have that Spirit in us, That unity ought to show amongst us. Are you with me? What I'm saying is, what Paul is saying is, just as the Spirit comes alongside of us, we need one another to come alongside of each of us and walk together. It's an encouragement to know that whatever you're facing, you have a church that is going to walk with you. Brother Ken, amen? It is a constant source of strength. When the enemy attacks on those long nights in the hospital room, when you feel alone in the dark, and then you realize that Christ is with you, and the church is with you, it gives you a strength that you don't know until you go through it. I've been there, Ken's been there, and many of you have been there. And if you haven't, praise God, but you will be at some point. And I want you to know the love and the unity of Jesus and His church in those moments, because it is an encouragement that nothing in this world can give you. I can promise you that. Not only is there this consolation in Christ, He says, if or since there's any comfort of love. Last week, Nina sang that beautiful song, and in a portion of that song, I believe, were the words, Jesus loves me, this I know. for the Bible tells me so. If Jesus' love has been shown to us, we will never be the same. We experience a love. Yes, give Him praise for that. He's worthy of it. If we have received that deep and great love that we didn't deserve, if God has been so good to us, to freely give us that love, how can we possibly withhold it from others? It is the height of hypocrisy to say, Lord, thank you for loving me while I hate my neighbor. That's why Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord thy God with all the heart, mind, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. You can't worship God and have hatred in your heart towards the people around you. It's impossible. God says if you have something against your brother and you've come to the altar, leave your gift at the altar and go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and worship. The reason why God may seem so distant in your life and your worship seems so pointless and meaningless is because you have forsaken human relationships and have not made those things right. And until you do, you will never have the fullness of joy. I'm not saying you're lost. I'm saying you won't have the fullness of joy and peace and assurance and the presence of God the way that you want to in your worship. It's impossible. You have got to deal with those things. And so there needs to be, in a united church, this love that transcends emotions. I'm not saying that you click with everybody. I'm not saying that everybody and you are going to be super tight in relationships. But I'm saying this kind of love goes beyond the emotion. God didn't just look down on us and say, I like them a lot, don't care for them as much. It's a willing choice that says no matter what they've done, no matter how their personality affects me, I can love them. I can love them. I don't have to live with them. I don't have to hang out with them every day of my life, but I can love them. Because God has given me love in an abundance. And I have more than I ever need that I can share with others. He then goes on and says that there, or since, there is this fellowship of the Spirit. That literally means a sharing of the Spirit. We're all different in this room. We all have different likes. We all have different hobbies. We all have differences in all sorts of areas. But one thing that we are completely have in common is the Spirit of God. We share this Spirit. I want to ask the guys to come on up, Cal and Brian. They're going to help me with a little illustration that I asked them with as I kind of touch on this point. And so the Greek word that he uses for fellowship, because we think about fellowship as Baptist and it involves food, right? Fellowship involves a picnic, a potluck, something like that. Amen, Sister Rosie. Praise God for the fried chicken. We love it. But this word, fellowship, goes beyond that. The Greek word is koinonia, and it means communion. It means to have a togetherness, an interest that brings us together. And so I asked the guys to come because I want you to see, and I think you'll hear this quite easily when they do it. They're going to strum a song, same song, but I just want you to hear as they play this same song together. Go ahead, guys. OK. Sound a little off? A lot off? Sounds like me when I play the guitar. All right. Now Cal Moot took the capo off of there. Now play the same song together. Sound a little better now? All right. Thank you, guys. I wanted you to hear that. Yes, give them a raise. Because that's the difference when you're out of tune versus when you're in tune. And the koinonia, that fellowship, is when we are in tune together. When we are united for the same purpose, it makes a beautiful sound in God's ears. Okay? And lastly, he says, there is an affection and a mercy. The King James Version uses the word bowels. We don't see that word used as much, but we use the idea sometimes if you've ever seen something and you're like, man, that was just gut-wrenching or that was like a punch in the gut. The Bible in Old English would use the bowels as an area where it affects you. People have said, I've got butterflies in my stomach, right? The idea is that this affects me. in my whole being, OK? And so he says that this affection and this mercy ought to come together because we love each other and we're united. And so we bear one another up. When one of you hurt, we all hurt. When one of you rejoice, we all rejoice. Why? Because there's no jealousy in the United Church. We're not worried about, oh man, somebody got promoted. Oh man, somebody else got to do that and I didn't get asked. There's none of that. We rejoice because we're all working together for the same cause. None of us gets the glory. None of us gets the praise. If we are, we're robbing it from Him. And that's not at all right. And so this togetherness as a whole, Paul says, since we have these four things, we should strive to be united continually so that these are evident in our life. And then he goes down into the second verse, just the first three words, I want you to see that. He says, Because of these things in your life, since they're evident, he says, fulfill my joy. In the New Testament, Paul wrote 14, if you believe he wrote Hebrews, 14 of the letters of the New Testament. Many of those churches he was responsible for starting, and for a season at least, pastored those churches. And so Paul was a missionary, Paul was a church planter, and Paul was a pastor on top of an apostle. And in those things, he often shares his heart as a pastor. And I believe these three words are one of those times. He says, fulfill my joy. If you asked me to name three things that bring me joy as a pastor, It would be your presence, your prayers, and the unity of the body. Those three things, hands down, give more joy and peace to a pastor than anything else. Because when you're not here, we worry about you. We can't do this work without your prayers. And the biggest thing that keeps a pastor up at night is when there is division in the church. And I'll say this, of any church, This church, Freedom, Hamilton Christian Center, First Baptist, doesn't matter. Princeton Pike, I can guarantee you that the pastors spend far too much time putting out fires from people having disagreements. I'm just being honest with you. Maybe I shouldn't say these things. But it's true. And I think it's important sometimes that churches hear that. Even in the best of churches, that is true. And that is why the enemy attacks unity. And why I want you to understand the seriousness and the situation that involves when the enemy uses you to be a stumbling block to someone else. It doesn't just affect your little circle. It affects the pastor and the body. And so Be on guard against those things. Paul says, fulfill my joy. What does he mean? I want to give you two verses real quick. 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 12 and 13. Listen to what Paul says to the church in Thessalonica. He says, but we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you. and have charge over you in the Lord, and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. I don't stand here today and ask you guys to fawn over me, to pat me on the back, to say that you appreciate me, but you do that often. And I appreciate the love and the support. I walked up here to the pulpit today and found this sitting on, I don't know who gave it to me. Thank you, whoever you are. I know you don't want to recognize, but it's just a little reminder today of this message that the people of this church love my family and love me. and I love you and I appreciate it. And Paul says to the church in Thessalonica, appreciate those who labor among you and have charge over you and give you instruction, that you esteem them very highly and love because of their work, because of the calling and the help I hope I give you and every pastor gives to you. And the last part he says, how can you do that? Live in peace with one another. One of the greatest joys is for me to be able to go to sleep at night and know that there's no factions in the church. That everybody, today at least, is in harmony. Because I can tell you that it's a constant source of stress when people are at odds. Because you think, oh man. Is this going to spread? Is it going to form cliques? Are they going to quit? Is it going to sever ties with people? All sorts of things go through your mind and that's not little faith. The reality is it happens all the time in many churches. 99% of the splits over something very small that two people couldn't agree upon. Okay? Hebrews 13, 17. He says, Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls and they are accountable to God. There's not anybody in this church, other than the pastor, who is going to have to give an account for more than himself. And I don't take that lightly. When you stand before God, you're going to give an account for you. When I stand before God, I'm going to give an account for me and every one of you. you think that's not a scary thing to think about? I can't make you live for Jesus, I'm not responsible if you choose to disobey God's word but I'm responsible to encourage you and to admonish you that this is serious business, guys if you claim the name of Christ and you've joined yourself to this church Then you have a responsibility to live for Jesus. You have a responsibility to represent this church well. That's why we go through our membership rolls from time to time and say, hey, we haven't seen you in a long time. Are you still a member here? And a lot of people are like, oh, you should never remove someone from the church membership. You should just make them, put them on an inactive list. That's an oxymoron to me. There's no such thing as an inactive Christian. If there is, they're either out of the will of God or they're lost. You don't become inactive in service for God. You might not be able to actively do the things you used to do, but you never stop serving God. And so if someone was a member of a church 30 years ago and has since fallen away and living like the devil, I don't want that to represent, when they die, to say a faithful member of K. Russo Baptist Church in their obituary. I'm not saying that I don't love them, pray for them, wouldn't reach out to them, wouldn't even go preach their funeral, but let's be honest, they weren't a faithful member of anything. except themselves. Are you with me? And so we have an obligation to uphold the unity and the purity of the church. We have to. And so he says, give them, in Hebrews 13, 7, give them, the pastors, a reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. that would certainly not be a benefit for you. He's saying obey and live. Again, I'm not standing up here saying, you better do what Chris says, how Chris wants it, when Chris wants it. I'm just delivering the mail, guys. I'm just preaching the message. And I want you to know Jesus, and I want you to know His Word for yourself, so that you don't have to simply just listen to me every week to get fed, but you can feed yourselves. And that's a true joy to me. That's a responsibility of mine to disciple you and help you become mature believers in the faith so that you can be a witness and a testimony to a lost and dying world. Next one. Moving on here. Right marks. We looked at, number one, we looked at the right motives. Now we're going to look at the right marks in the second half of verse B. And again, Paul lists these out. It's real easy to see them. So he says, after fulfill my joy, number one, he says, I want you to be like-minded. That simply means to be in agreement, to think harmoniously. And that goes beyond doctrine. He's not simply talking about we believe the same doctrines. He's talking about the way that we work together for the glory of God and the spreading of the gospel that we have the same mind and then he goes on and says that we have the same love literally meaning we love equally again I've already said we're not going to connect with everybody on the same level Jesus had 12 disciples that he was close with, but he had three that he took intimately with him into like the Garden of Gethsemane, and then he had one that said, I'm the disciple that Jesus loves. So there is even in the disciples, not that he loved one more than another, but the relationships were closer with some in a sense than others, and that's OK. You don't have to have an equal relationship with everybody in the church, but you do need to love everyone equally. Because it's not an emotional thing. It's not boy. We have nothing in common. They get on my nerves I'm just going to keep away from them No, we love them because they are a child of God if they are in Christ and we can love them under that banner He says to have one accord That's a word that we hear a lot in Acts chapter 2 about the early church that they were in one accord Literally their hearts beat together in unison. They were that close. They had one purpose and one goal in mind and they were knit Together. There was no personal ambition or selfishness in their motives. They cared only about the gospel and the spread of that throughout the world. That's all they were focused on together. And lastly, he says, one mind, or the New American Standard Bible says, intent on one purpose. So it's real easy to see in that short list of four, the idea is a unified purpose and mission. Again, we are diverse people, whether it's culturally, racially doesn't matter there's a lot of diversity in America and even in the church but there is certain principles that we unite under and Paul makes those clear layman Strauss who was a preacher and commentator he says this he said it is not the difference of viewpoint that makes for disunity among us but rather a wrong attitude toward others whose viewpoint differs from our own If we were more willing to face the problem from our brother's viewpoint, there would be fewer differences among us. In other words, we need to be good listeners sometimes. We shouldn't try to talk over people all the time and say, well, my way's better because... and just try to drive home our point that we are superior in knowledge and methodology. We should be willing to listen because here's something that I think all of us need to be reminded of sometimes. None of us know it all. All of us are still learning things. all of us are not always going to get it right. And again, I want you to know that my door is always open, the leadership's door is always open, and I can promise you that we will always listen to your suggestions and requests. But listening does not mean that we can always do what you expect or want us to do. We are certainly willing to listen and consider all ideas, but we can't do everyone's ideas or we won't do anything. Because we will be changing our plans every five minutes right and so to be united means this is my idea But as long as we stick to the mission. I don't care how we do it as long as we do it Amen all right last one, and I'm done right means for spiritual unity the right means for spiritual unity Paul gives one more list and there's five here and There's three that are negative and two that are positive. And I want you to see that this is kind of the practical way now. He's given us sort of our list and now these five are really putting things into practice, if you will. And so, these are the things I would say as you write these down or as you file them away in your mind. These are the areas where you really need to strive. to try to make sure that you are on guard against them if it's a negative principle or actively trying to live this out, okay? The first one is a negative. Don't be selfish, basically, is what he's saying there. He says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition. I tried to simplify it to say, don't be selfish. Don't be selfish. Selfishness is literally a self-love. It's someone who is constantly seeking personal gratification or an advantage and disregards the rights or feelings of others. When it's about us, all of the things that I've preached about for the last half hour will be very difficult, if not impossible, for you to see in the moment. Because you have one focus and one idea, and that is to make sure that you get your way. And if that is the focus, you will divide yourself from the majority. And you will divide yourself from Christ in that moment. Because this is not, again, I'll say it, I've said it many times, this is not my church. And it's not your church. This is the Lord's church. And He has blessed us to be able to steward this gift. And I want us to steward it well. And we do that by not being selfish. We do that by putting others and Jesus above ourselves. Then he also gives another negative in the next verse. The Bible says conceit. Don't be conceited. The word in the Greek means empty of glory. The King James translates it vain glory. The idea is someone And we know people like this, maybe hopefully not in the church, but I hate to say this, but every family has this kind of person in their family, I think. I think, sadly, I think that you would agree with it. It's an arrogant kind of pride. We might say it's a know-it-all. It's somebody that, no matter what it is, no matter what you're talking about, theology, law, architecture, it doesn't matter. You find a lot of these people on Facebook. If you need an answer to anything, I mean anything, virology, theology, it doesn't matter. If you go on Facebook for three minutes, you will find people that have an answer to everything you've ever wanted to know. Just ask them. They'll tell you. And I'm serious. And it is a conceited arrogance. that can't ever let down its pride enough to say, you know what? I don't know. I've never thought about that, never researched that, never studied that. I don't have an answer. I don't know. It's okay to not know. It's okay to be wrong. As long as you can admit you were wrong, people have a hard time with that anymore. But we're all gonna be wrong sometimes. This word, this idea was so prevalent that the Greeks came up with a word for it. And we still use the word today, maybe not a lot, but there's still an English word, hubris. You ever heard that word, hubris? In the Greek, it meant someone that thought they were smarter or greater than the gods. It's an arrogance. It's a pride that leads into being an arrogant person. A unified church is humble. You don't walk around and toot your own horn. One of my favorite quotes is that you don't shine brighter by blowing out someone else's candle. You don't shine brighter by blowing out someone else's candle. Let's glorify Christ together. Then he gives us yet another example, and he says that in lowliness of mind, I would just simply say, again, be humble. Think small of yourself. The Greeks thought humility was a vice. They didn't think that humility was anything good. It was Christianity that really elevated humility to a positive thing. In the Greek culture, to be humble was to be seen as weak. Matter of fact, there was only two classes of people that the Greeks referred to as humble. Slaves, who were worth nothing, and Christians, who were also seen as worth nothing. That was the idea in that culture. But in Christianity, humility is a virtue. It is something that Jesus modeled to us. He was lowly in mind and spirit. The greatest man who ever lived humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of a cross. What an example He left for us to be humble. And then the final two things that He gives us in these last parts of verse 4 and 5, or 3 and 4, I'm sorry. He says, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but the interests of others. So basically, that summarized into two points. Number one, don't just think of you. but look out for others. Don't just think of you, look out for others. Because here's what happens in churches. As the church grows, more needs arise. Because more needs arise, more ministries are started. And as more ministries and programs are started, those that serve in particular ministries often feel, because they're passionate about it, most likely that's why they're in that position to serve, feel as though that ministry in the moment ought to get the most attention. It ought to be the single focus of the church. And so, because of that, if it doesn't receive the funding that is expected, if it doesn't receive the support that's expected, if it doesn't receive whatever might be the case, some jealousy and animosity arises. Because you will feel like, because I'm passionate about children's ministry, the whole church should be passionate, and to a degree you should. But that doesn't mean that everybody's going to say, sign me up for every children's ministry program. I want every penny of my offering to go to the children's ministry, the youth ministry, the ladies ministry, the men's ministry. Listen. If you're passionate about it, go out and serve Jesus with all of your heart. And pray for God to raise up others that are passionate about the same thing. But when you say, Church, all of you must be exactly who I want you to be and serve in this ministry the way that I want you to serve, you've made it about you. It's not about others anymore. It's not about reaching people with the gospel, reaching children with the gospel, reaching whoever with the gospel. It's about making sure that your ministry is run and operated how you see fit. And that's not the case at all. Because again, the mission of all the ministries at K-Russo is to share the good news about Jesus Christ and to make disciples. That's what we do. If they're not saved and they're in the nursery, children's church, Sunday school, youth program, all the way on up, college and career, adult, seniors, it doesn't matter. The mission is to introduce them to Christ so they can be saved and then disciple them so that they can grow in the knowledge and maturity of the faith. That's it. That is the mission. And I can stand here today with a clear heart and say every ministry in this church is striving to do that. But when we make it about things other than that, when we argue about the color of the chairs or the size of the table or what room we're going to use or who's going to teach this week, we have divided into things that don't matter. And that wedge comes in, and the mission is forgotten, and we just want to seek to win our side to the things. And that's not what the Bible teaches for us to do. F.B. Meyer, an old preacher of yesteryear, he said, The deepest thought in Christian fellowship, and that which makes us truly one, is the desire to make Jesus king. that he may be loved and honored, and that thousands of souls may bow the knee and confess that he is Lord. Oh, that this were ever the prominent thought among us." In other words, Romans 12, 10. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another. Lots of churches put the period right there. They're constantly seeking to be better than everybody else. That's not the case. He goes on. Outdo one another in showing honor. Honor others more than yourself is the idea. We're not just trying to outdo each other to show that we are superior to everybody else in the church. We are striving to bring glory and honor to the one who put us here. Amen. I want to close. Phyllis, you can come for the invitation. I want to close with this little story that I found this week. I want you to think about this. This lady wrote this. Lee, I thought about you this week when I read this. During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one. What is the first, here's the question, what is the first name of the woman who cleans the school? Surely this was some kind of a joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired, and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. Absolutely, said the professor. In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care. Even if all you do is smile and say hello, I've never forgotten that lesson. And I also learned that her name was Dorothy. And then he asked the question, who is the Dorothy in your life who needs your attention? There are people in this church that serve week in and week out. And church, as we grow, we can't be united if we don't know one another. We have got to be willing to spend time getting to know each other, growing closer together with one another. Make it a point, as introverted as you may be, to step out of your comfort zone and meet someone new each week. Go to lunch. Talk for a little bit. Build those relationships. Because I can tell you that as the church grows, we will grow apart if we don't intentionally grow together. And we've got to seek to do that. And so as we give this invitation, I want to make this personal for us today. I believe maybe that there are some in the room that need to repent of pride and divisiveness and jealousy. If that is the case, if you say, I've been holding on to things against other people and I need to get it right today with them first and then with God, I would do that today at this invitation. But more importantly, there are some of you that aren't united to Christ. And we're glad you're here today. But until you unite yourself to Christ in faith, you have no relationship with Him. You might enjoy the worship, the preaching, and the programs that we do here. But the biggest thing I want you to know is, are you connected to Christ? Are you saved? Are you a believer? If not, during this invitation, you can be, if you'll come and receive Him. Let's pray. Father, thank you this morning, Lord. For a difficult word, but one I believe that will strengthen any church that takes it serious and obeys it. So God, right now in this room, I pray that you would give people the courage, the boldness, and the conviction to do what's needed. To stand up and go to people, maybe people that don't even know that they've got something against them, and say, I want you to come to the altar with me today. I want to pray and forgive and love. And I pray for those in the room that don't know Jesus, that today they would see that they are a breath away from eternity and being separated from God. And Jesus loves them enough right now to forgive them and save them if they'll just come. So God, have your way in this church, in our hearts, and in this invitation. And we give you all the thanks already for what you've done today in Jesus' name. Amen. As we stand and as we sing.