Sermon Tone Analysis

Father, You have taught us that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from Your mouth.

So, we come once again to the life giving Word of God that our souls might be fed.

We ask that by Your Spirit You would work supernaturally, enabling us to hear and understand and love the truth revealed to us in these verses of Scripture.

Do it, we pray, that Christ might be glorified in HIs church.

Amen.

Open your Bible, please, to .

Once you have found that place, I ask that you stand in honor of God’s Word.

In her book Grapes of Wrath Or Grace, Barabra Brokhoff tells the story of: A group of American tourists were taking a bus tour in Rome led by an English-speaking guide.

Their first stop was a basilica in a piazza, which was surrounded by several lanes of relentless Roman traffic.

After they were all safely dropped off, the group climbed the steps for a quick tour of the church.

I.

The basis of Christian unity (V 1)

A group of American tourists were taking a bus tour in Rome led by an English-speaking guide.

Their first stop was a basilica in a piazza, which was surrounded by several lanes of relentless Roman traffic.

After they were all safely dropped off, the group climbed the steps for a quick tour of the church.

Then they spread out to board the bus, which was now parked across the street from the church.

The frantic guide shouted for the group to stay together.

He hollered out to them, "You cross one by one, they hit you one by one.

But if you cross together, they think you will hurt the car!

They won't hit you."

If we as a church allow ourselves to be separated, divided, one by one the devil will hit us.

It’s only when we function together, as one, that we can get anywhere or accomplish anything for the kingdom.

This is the message that Paul is trying to convey to the church at Philippi.

At the end of chapter one Paul tells them that they are to stand together for the gospel.

Now, as we move into chapter 2, Paul stresses the together part of that.

Paul calls the church to Christian unity for the sake of the gospel.

He essentially tells them to pursue unity by practicing humility.

There is no greater priority for Mt.

Zion Baptist Church than that we be united for the sake of the gospel.

Today we are going to focus on what it means to have Christian unity and how it becomes reality.

I.

The basis of Christian unity (V 1)

The basis of our unity is the work of Christ in us, our common experience of salvation in Christ.

It is what makes unity possible, and it is what sustains unity.

As those who are in Christ we share an experience that is common only to us.

It is an experience none outside of Christ know.

Our common salvation experience forms the foundation for christian unity.

One experience we should all share as believers is encouragement in Christ.

The word “encouragement” means to give assistance by comfort, counsel, or exhortation.

Is your Christian faith a source of comfort?

Is your Christian faith a source of wise counsel and direction?

Is your Christian faith calling you to what is right and good?

When we all experience the encouragement that comes from being united to Christ that shared experience becomes a basis for unity.

Another experience we should all share as Christians is comfort from Christ’s love.

This comfort is the kind of comfort you feel when you are consoled in a time of disappointment.

Has the knowledge of Christ’s love for you ever brought comfort to your burdened heart?

Has the thought that He would sacrifice Himself to save you ever lifted your spirits when you were in a pit of despair?

Has the fact that He has made you HIs very own ever cheered your soul when things didn’t turn out like you hoped they would?

As Christians we should all know the comfort of our Savior’s love.

That shared experience is a basis for unity.

A third experience we should all share as believers is participation in the Spirit.

It means we are all partakers of the Spirit.

Participation is actually the word for fellowship.

Believers all share the same fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

In the Bible says that as believers we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

He dwells in us in a very real and very supernatural way.

We experience His conviction when we sin.

We experience His illuminating power when we are enabled to understand divine truth.

We experience His enabling when walk in obedience.

We all have an intimate fellowship with God’s Spirit.

That common experience is a basis for unity.

Another experience we all share as believers is what Paul refers to as “affection and sympathy.”

The word “affection” could be translated tenderness.

“Sympathy” could also be translated compassion.

The idea is that we all experienced Christ’s tender affection and His compassion when we became Christians.

In saving you Christ poured out on you His tenderness and compassion.

That is true of every believer.

That common experience is a basis for unity.

As believers, we have all experienced the encouragement of Christ, the comfort of His love, the fellowship of His Spirit, and His affection and compassion.

These things are common to all who have come to Christ for salvation.

This common salvation experience provides the basis for a unity that is so much deeper than the superficial unity that might be experienced by some ball team or other organization.

Christ’s work in us has laid the foundation for a unity that is as deep as our very souls.

We can see this in Paul’s description of unity in verse 2.

II.

The description of Christian unity (V 2)

Paul says, “If you share this common salvation experience, fill my joy to overflowing by walking in unity.”

For Paul, knowing that the church was functioning as one in Christ would bring him fullness of joy.

But he doesn’t just say complete my joy by walking in unity.

He actually describes the unity he wants the church to have.

He tells us that Christian unity is characterized by four things.

Christian unity means being of the same mind, or like-minded.

To be like-minded is to have the same attitude and disposition of mind.

Being of the same mind is not just thinking the same, but it also involves the will.

‘describes the general disposition of harmony which should be the background against which the whole Christian fellowship moves’; the rendering ‘by being like-minded’, which is not to be understood in an exclusively intellectual sense, means being one in intent and disposition.91

One Bible commentator said it “describes the general disposition of harmony which should be the background against which the whole Christian fellowship moves’; the rendering ‘by being like-minded’, which is not to be understood in an exclusively intellectual sense, means being one in intent and disposition.”

This doesn’t mean we all have the same personality, or the same likes and dislikes.

It means we share a common worldview.

We have the same priorities.

We should all see the world from a Christian perspective.

We should all think biblically about things.

Christ should be foremost in all our our thinking, feeling, and doing.

Christian unity also means having the same love.

Here Paul is referring to the Philippians’ love for one another.

Our love for one another should be reciprocal.

“By this will all men know that you are My disciples, that you love one another.”

Christian unity means I have a love for you that makes me willing to sacrifice for your good, and you have that same love for me in return.

This is not a love we reserve for the people we like most, but for all who are part of God’s church.

To have Christian unity means we have the same attitude/disposition and the same love for one another.

Christian unity also involves being in full accord.

Literally this says, being “one-souled.”