The Stepping Stones of the Christian Life
Philippians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsThe building blocks of the Christian life start at the certainty of the Lordship and deity of Christ
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If you have a Bible, turn to Philippians 2. We will be in verses 1-4 this evening and in a lot of ways, it is a continuation of what we talked about last week as we highlighted how we are to live lives that are worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Last week we talked about the how of living a worthy life and tonight we can talk about the why of living a worthy life. What we are going to see tonight is really the stepping stones or building blocks of the Christian life. What Paul is going to do is link together a series of four phrases that culminate in the one shared purpose of all believers. As Paul gets to this shared purpose, he then goes onto teach what is probably the greatest lesson on humility in all of Scripture and we will highlight that more next week. What we are going to see is Paul really almost bringing everyone back down to earth because in many ways, he exalts the believer and he wants the believer to see who they are in Christ but as soon he does that, he almost slams on the breaks as if to say, “Now hold on, don’t get a big head about all this. Yes you are the people of God but you have not been saved to boast in yourself.” Let’s go ahead and read Philippians 2:1-4 and we will read it in the CSB translation because I think it helps to better emphasize the stepping stones that we mentioned earlier. Paul writes, “If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others." To give you an outline of where we will be going tonight, I have four main headings: the stepping stones of the Christian life, the purpose of Christian living, the removal of our boasting, and the needs and interests of others. Let’s pray and then we will start to unravel what Paul is teaching.
The Stepping Stones of the Christian Life (Ver. 1).
The Stepping Stones of the Christian Life (Ver. 1).
Paul begins verse 1 almost with a series of rhetorical questions. What are rhetorical questions? They are questions where the answers are relatively obvious right? They are questions that are given to drive home a point. Let’s break down these four statements that Paul makes. they all start with the word if but the word if could also be accurately translated as because. It is like Paul is saying, “because this is the case...”
If/Because there is any encouragement in Christ
Paul starts with the obvious and most important. Paul begins with Christ and it should be very obvious that there is encouragement in Christ. Obviously there is much encouragement in who Jesus is and what He has done. Think of the encouragement that we receive from Christ. The Son of God took on flesh, came to earth, was killed on a cross because of your sin and my sin, rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, where He is interceding on behalf of His people! Why did Christ endure the cross? For His glory and so that many would be brought to Him. Is there encouragement in Christ? Is water wet? Even in our darkest days, Christ is King and walking alongside us! God Himself has promised to Christians that we will never be abandoned. God says that He will never leave us and never forsake us. Think of what David says in Psalm 139:7-12
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
To the unbeliever, this sounds unbearable but for the believer, this is one of the most beautiful truths that we will be able to find in Scripture. God never, ever leaves His people. Charles Spurgeon said, “What is guaranteed in this promise? Beloved, herein doth God give to his people everything. “I will never leave thee.” Then no attribute of God can cease to be engaged for us. Is he mighty? He will show himself strong on the behalf of them that trust him. Is he love? Then with everlasting lovingkindness will he have mercy upon us. Whatever attributes may compose the character of Deity every one of them to its fullest extent shall be engaged on our side. Moreover, whatsoever God hath, whether it be in the lowest hades or in the highest heaven, whatever can be contained in infinity or can be held within the circumference of eternity, whatever, in fine, can be in him who filleth all things, and yet is greater than all things, shall be with his people for ever, since “He hath said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” We have all had a rough few years, some of us have had a rougher time than others, but think of the joy in knowing that Christ is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever! He remains our steadfast hope, He remains our all in all, He remains Lord and Savior, He remains God of all creation, and He continues to be for us and not against us! Can you find any encouragement in Christ? It would be impossible not to! So, Paul builds upon this reality. For every Christian, our Christian lives must begin on the Chief Cornerstone Jesus Christ. Everything we do builds upon Him and the relationship we have with Him. Take Him out and you are left with nothing of any value. There is never a moment where a Christian cannot find encouragement in Christ. Let’s look at Paul’s second statement
If/Because there is consolation in love
Not only is there encouragement in Christ, there is consolation of love that comes from that encouragement. Keep in mind that each of the four statements builds upon the statement that came before it. Consolation is being used as a synonym for encouragement. When Paul says consolation of love, he is referring to that which comforts a trembling and broken heart. We need to know that there is a God who loves us. When I was a teenager I remember doing something and getting in a lot of trouble with my parents and I remember that feeling of, “I don’t know if my parents will love me like they used to” and I told them that was how I felt. But my stupid choice didn’t change the love they had for me. I got in trouble because they loved me. They disciplined me because I really needed it. If my parents love is consistent and comforting, all the more is God’s love! Understand, God is not waiting for you to meet some standard in order to love you. What does Paul say in Ephesians 1:4-5?
Ephesians 1:4–5 (ESV)
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Christians have been loved by God perfectly from before the foundation of the world was placed. God’s love for you cannot change. It can never lessen, it can never be made more perfect, it can never be misplaced or removed. God loved you before you loved Him and He does not just love some future version of you that does not exist yet. You and I need the love of God. Imagine if God was all justice, all holiness, all powerful but no love. Would we be able to find much encouragement in that? Maybe but I think we would struggle in a lot of ways. Paul just mentioned the encouragement that comes in Christ and Christ’s person and work brings a lot of elements to our attention. We see the holiness of God, the kingship of Christ, the wrath that God has towards sin and sinner and if we see that only and neglect the comfort of God’s love, then we cannot fully embrace the reality of what it means to find encouragement in Christ. The Christian is one who should find themselves surrounded by the comfort of love: it comes from God, it comes from Christ, it comes from the Church and all we do is an expression of the love that God has shown us and this goes straight into Paul’s third statement.
If/Because there is fellowship with the Spirit
What does the Holy Spirit do to one that has been born again? Does He bring him into his own little pocket where he lives alone, out of touch with everything else? No, he is brought into the Body of Christ, the People of God, the Church of Jesus Christ. He is brought into fellowship and this fellowship is unlike anything that he could possibly have before. He is brought into a new family, a new relationship, a new partnership. But not only does the Christian have fellowship with the People of God, he has fellowship with God Himself! Steven Lawson said, “The Christian always has the active participation of the Spirit in them, bringing the encouragement of Jesus Christ to the depths of their soul. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be another comforter to bring to believers the supernatural peace of Christ that only he can give.” All of this culminates into Paul’s final “if” statement
If/Because there is affection and mercy
We see the affection of Christ. We see the extent of His mercy and when all of that is taken into consideration, the people of God are empowered to do the work of the Gospel. We have encouragement from Christ, love and comfort pouring out from God the Father, we have fellowship with God and are brought into a new family that is being sanctified in the image of Christ and all we can do is think, “What affection! What love has been shown to me! What a great magnitude of mercy that God has shown to me, a sinner that deserves absolutely none of these tremendous blessings!” All four of these realities are the stepping stones of the Christian life. This is what makes the Church what it is. Christ the chief cornerstone, the love and comfort of the Savior, the fellowship with the Spirit, and the ongoing affection and mercy that is being poured out. All of this results in the purpose of our Christian lives.
The Purpose of Christian Living (Verse 2).
The Purpose of Christian Living (Verse 2).
Paul says in verse 2, “Make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” Paul’s joy would be complete because the Church is united in one common goal: the purpose of Christian living culminates in the glory of God. Why do we as Christians do anything? So that God would be glorified. The Body of Christ exists to glorify God forever. We are united in this one pursuit. The Spirit of God brings together the People of God so that we may all declare the glory of God. Donald Whitney said, “The unifying principle for all of life, including our spirituality, is found in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This is the sun around which every spiritual practice, every decision, every prayer, and everything else—including our efforts at simplifying—should revolve.” I cannot emphasize to you enough the importance of glorifying God in what we do. Let me emphasize this: The greatest extent of joy in your life comes from the greater you magnify the importance of the glory of God. When Christ is the greatest treasure of your life, and we have talked about this a lot as we have studied Philippians, you will find nothing greater to surpass the worthiness of that treasure. I don’t want garbage, I don’t want lesser things, I want God and I want to see His glory. I want my actions to be a spotlight to the One that saved me. I want my words to paint a picture of He that is seated upon the throne. I want my thoughts to be so God-centered that worldly thoughts have no place in my mind. By finding encouragement in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship with the Spirit, affection and mercy, unity within the Body, and being united by God Himself, I am able to pursue that which all of creation is pointing to. Have you realized that God is glorious and have you recognized what that really means? Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? I can tell you ice cream is sweet but you won’t really understand the full extent of what that means until you taste it for yourself. What is the purpose of your life? What do you exist to do? Are you here to glorify God or not? For times’ sake, let’s look at verse 3.
The Removal of Boasting (V. 3)
The Removal of Boasting (V. 3)
I mentioned earlier how Paul gets to verse 3 and in some ways, it is kind of like he is slamming on the breaks. I think that it can be easy for Christians to be hypocritical when it comes to humility, grace, and mercy. We are a people that have been forgiven so greatly and yet how many of us struggle to forgive? We are a people that have been loved before the foundation of the world and yet how often do we struggle to love? Paul says in verse 3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.” We are to consider others as more important than ourselves. I think Paul brings this up here because the Christian may hear all that Paul is saying and begin to think that his crap don’t stink. They think of the promises of God and all that entails the relationship that they have with Him. They think of how they are co-heirs with Christ and the beauty that comes from that relationship but all of those great gifts, if humility is not practiced, might lead the believer to look at others indifferently. It might lead to a boasting in themselves rather than a blessing towards others. I’ve said before that we as Christians have a realistic view of the world and our realistic view needs to recognize that people need Christ. Christians should be the most humble people in the world, predominantly because of the example that Christ has given to us, which we will talk about next week. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:28-31
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Paul’s message here and in Philippians 2:3 is cut from the same cloth. We haven’t saved ourselves, we can’t save ourselves, and we won’t be able to save ourselves. Our only boast is the cross! It is maddening to me to think that any of us would boast of our salvation as if we played any major part in it. Think of how much you did when Christ was on the cross? Christ died 2,000 years before you were even born. Before you committed a single sin, Christ atoned for every sin that you would ever do. How much have you done for your salvation when the defining act of salvation was accomplished thousands of years before you were born? Who are we then to boast except in our Lord Jesus Christ? Our only hope comes from the Lord and we are no more deserving of the love of God than anyone else and because of this reality, we show great humility to others. We don’t act selfishly or with conceit, we don’t cheat others, we don’t conduct business with fingers crossed behind our backs. We see others as more important than ourselves. We cannot elevate ourselves and elevate God at the same time. We need to do one or the other. We cannot say that we are serving Christ as Christ served us if we are attempting to exalt ourselves above those whom we are coming into contact with. We shut our pride down to lift others up. David Prior writes, “God is constantly and deliberately bringing proud people to their knees, so that they can enter his presence in repentance and faith. People who glory in their intelligence and insight will be put to shame by those who, by worldly standards, are ignoramuses but who know God in Jesus Christ. Immensely powerful people are shown up in all their vulnerability by the impressive inner strength of very weak individuals who love God. Insignificant and very ordinary people often get under the skins of the wealthy and the influential, who would normally ignore and despise them. In these and other ways the pride of man is punctured by the wise love of God. We are urged as Christians to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God; but, if we are not wise enough to do that, God will see to it that we are humbled—often through the most unlikely people. These are the loving ways of our wise God.” We are dead men proclaiming the truth to dead men. We cannot fully proclaim the truth as we should without humility. This leads us into our fourth point which is found in verse 4.
The Needs and Interests of Others (Verse 4)
The Needs and Interests of Others (Verse 4)
Paul says in verse 4, “Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” As I was studying this verse, I looked up the Greek text because the Greek is usually so much more explosive with uncovering the full meaning of the passage and what I found was that there really does not seem to be a Greek word for interests. The word seems strangely absent from the text and it almost seems like when you read the verse in Greek that Paul is emphasizing that we need to look past ourselves and look at the core of others. We look beyond the surface. We are to recognize the great needs and interests of others and we are to strive to meet those needs. When we come to Christ, our priorities change. We no longer should see ourselves as that which all of the universe revolves around. We are a people with a great need for Christ that need to reach out to meet the great needs of others. We are to reach deep within the heart of our fellow man. We are to strive with a God-elevated desire to show others the great treasure that we have found in Christ. Is it easy to submit to others and live in humility? Absolutely. Is it impossible? Not at all. Dennis Johnson writes, “The others-embracing, others-serving mind-set of Christ is so unnatural to our self-preserving instincts. Yet when God’s grace grasps us deeply, it begins to develop into our deepest, strongest desire. We begin to care for all our brothers and sisters in Christ with the same passionate intensity that we so automatically and easily lavish on our own comforts and concerns. We learn to give as much weight to their opinions as we do to our own. We start feeling their disappointments and pains and grief as intensely as we do our own. We put their needs before our own.” Do you recognize the great needs of others? Do you see the hurt in the lives of people around you? If you are a Christian, you have already recognized your great need for a Savior but have you recognized this need in others? If you want to faithfully serve Christ, stop looking to your own self interests and recognize your need for humility and the great needs of others. How are we able to do that? By looking to the example that Christ has left for us and we will look at that next week. Let’s pray.