Sermon Tone Analysis

Philippians 2:1-5

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I.     Introduction

The International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations in November 1981.

It has set September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.

The resolution states, “…that the International Day of Peace shall henceforth be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day...”

In March of this year the Mennonite World Conference decided to encourage churches that “The Sunday nearest to September 21 would be designated as a Peace Sunday to be observed in our churches around the world.”

In our study of Philippians, we come today to Philippians 2:1-4 which calls us to be peacemakers in the church.

Please turn to this passage.

As you may recall, Philippians 1:27-2:18 is a passage in which the primary concern is the spread of the gospel.

The importance this Scripture gives it encourages us to be a gospel proclaiming church.

Therefore, I want to encourage us to be involved in Operation Andrew and to take the opportunities we have to make the name of Jesus known.

It is our privilege and indeed our responsibility to let others know about Jesus.

As Paul speaks about this, he writes about how this task can be done well.

He mentions that if we are going to make the name of Jesus known, we will face opposition and he encourages us to be strong and faithful in that opposition.

We examined that two weeks ago.

He also speaks about the importance of a life lived in a worthy way.

If we are not living what God has done in us, we will not persuade others to embrace the faith, in fact we will confuse them.

In a few weeks we will think about that.

Then, in the section we are going to look at today, Paul recognizes the critical importance that if the church is going to be a light in the world, the people who are part of the church will have to live together in unity.

When the world sees a divided church, it gets confused and misses seeing Jesus.

Several times in the section we are looking at Paul makes mention of this call to unity.

In 1:27 he says, “stand firm in one Spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.”

In 2:14 he says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing…” and in 2:17,18 he writes, “I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”

Each of these passages either directly or indirectly mentions the concept of unity in the body of Christ.

Let us take a more careful look at Philippians 2:1-5

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II.

The Basis Of Unity

When our children were small, we had a tape of a children’s story.

In the story, a brother and sister are fighting and their little sister admonishes them in a cute little voice by saying, “you got to love each other.”

Why do we got to love each other?

What is the basis of the unity we can and must have in the body of Christ?

Philippians 2:1 begins with a conditional clause.

The word “if” appears four times in this verse.

The Greek word can just as well be translated “since” and as such becomes an indication of the basis for the unity we have in the church.

Although the NIV does not show it, it is possible that there is a Trinitarian flavour in the passage.

Christ and the Spirit are mentioned in the first and third item.

Is it intended that the Father is associated with love in the second item?

If so, it is in itself a powerful call to unity.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in unity and their example is the encouragement to our unity as well.

!! A.  Encouragement From Christ

The first conditional clause is, “since you have encouragement from Christ.”

The previous section has already revealed that life is not easy.

We face temptations, testing, persecution and all kinds of difficulties.

But, in Christ, we also receive everything we need for life.

We receive forgiveness, abundant life, comfort in suffering and eternal hope.

Strife often comes when we lack something, but in Christ, we lack nothing.

We are fully blessed in relationship to Him, so we have every reason to be one in Him.

!! B.  Comfort From God’s Love

Furthermore, we have also experienced, as one writer translates it, the “solace of love.”

Whose love?

As I suggested earlier, it could be a reference to God’s love.

Romans 5:5 says, “…God has poured out his love into our hearts...”

Gordon Fee says, “if our common experience of comfort from God’s love has anything going for it at all…then we ought to live in unity with one another.”

Often disunity comes because we are insecure and not sure that we are accepted.

We seek acceptance and when we don’t get it, we are tempted to attack others.

But when we know that we are loved by God, and thus accepted by Him, there is every reason to live in unity.

!! C.  Fellowship With The Spirit

We also have a good basis for peace because of the fellowship we have in the same Spirit.

The Spirit is the basic foundation for all Christian unity.

Ephesians 4:3,4 speaks about that unity when it says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit…” That is why we sing “We are one in the Spirit.”

It is the Spirit of God who joins us together because if we are all indwelt by the same Spirit, and are all listening to that Spirit, then there is no reason to be disunited.

!! D.  Fellow Feeling

The last conditional clause speaks to the feelings we have toward one another.

The words, “compassion and mercy” use the language of inner feeling.

Sometimes when we experience deep emotions, we have actual physical feelings way down deep inside.

We talk about a gut feeling.

We talk about butterflies in our stomach.

These are all images which are behind the word compassion in this verse.

KJV actually translates it “bowels and mercies.”

It sounds funny to our modern ear, but it communicates well the deep feelings we have towards one another in the body of Christ.

Because we are loved by God, experience comfort in a relationship to Christ and are indwelt by the same Spirit, we have every reason to be filled with a deep feelings of care towards one another.

This is the basis of the unity that can and should be ours in Christ.

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III.

What Unity Looks Like

In Philippians 2:2, Paul goes on to say, since these things are yours, “make my joy complete by being like minded.”

He doesn’t simply say be united.

He says, make my joy complete.

That is the imperative, but the way that they would give him joy was if they would be united with one another.

This is the call to unity that he extended to the church in Philippi and also to all Christian believers.

What does this mean?

How do we have unity in the church?

How do we live in unity in the body of Christ?

Paul goes on to talk about what unity looks like.

!! A.  Being Like Minded

Although he says that they should be like minded, he does not mean by this that they should all have the same opinions about everything.

If robotic uniformity is what God intended, he would not have made us so different.

There are churches which try to force everyone to think the same way.

They may think that they are obeying this command, but if that is what unity means, why did God create us with minds?

Why did God create us with different stories?

Why are we all so unique?

If God wanted all of us to have the same opinions about everything, why did He create everything in such a unique and varied way?

In fact, it is absolutely essential that we think deeply about what we believe, hold tightly to what we learn about God and His truth and not be easily swayed from it.

Yet all the while we must listen to others and think about God’s truth further.

I have heard someone say that if two people think the same thing, one of them is redundant.

Yes, God wants us to be like minded, that is clear, but uniform thinking is not what being like minded is all about.

What then does it mean to be like minded?

The next words in verse two help us understand.

!! B.  Having The Same Love

Being like minded means that we have “the same love.”