A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on November 12, 2023.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, 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 (Philippians 2:1–4).[1]
Paul likely writes to the church at Philippi from a Roman prison, awaiting trial and, unbeknownst to him, death. At the time of his writing, Paul was hopeful of his release and eager to return to Philippi, to witness firsthand the continued good work of God (Phil. 1:6). But God’s good work in the church is not without adversarial opposition, as the enemy seeks to undermine her fruitfulness, even orthodoxy, and unity. So Paul prays that the church’s love will “abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:9-10). Paul knows well that orthodoxy and unity must be prayerfully protected.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe.[2]
And so, Satan attacks the church, sometimes through opponents without but also from within. Of course, we cannot control opposition, but we can control how we live and respond to it. And what the church must guard against is doing Satan’s work for him, for example, by allowing disunity to blossom in our midst. “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,” Paul writes, “… standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).
Emphasizing this, Paul begins the second chapter with this statement: “if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, 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” (2:1-2). It’s a conditional statement meant to lead us to the inevitable conclusion: As we have these blessings in Christ, then we are to live in unity with one another, a joy-filled affirmation to Pastor Paul and a blessing to the church.
How we live this out is by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live for Christ together as Christ’s church. Therefore, looking at our passage today, I want to draw out four key words which emphasize the Holy Spirit’s work, as the Spirit of unity, in the church: “encouragement,” “comfort,” “participation” (or fellowship), and “affection” (or love). The Holy Spirit encourages us to look to Christ. The Holy Spirit comforts us in the love of Christ. The Holy Spirit unifies us as the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit empowers us to love like Christ.
The Holy Spirit encourages us to look to Christ
In explaining the ministry of the Holy Spirit to his first disciples, Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit glorifies not himself nor the Christian but Christ alone (John 16:14). That’s what he does: The Holy Spirit encourages us to look to Christ. But what does looking to Christ have to do with unity in the church? For one thing, his example of humility:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8).
In his conception and birth, in his life, in his death, even after his death, prior to his resurrection, Jesus humbled himself. Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves,” which should practically lead to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility counting others more significant than ourselves (2:3).
But to look to Christ goes beyond his example to what he has done for us. Neither you nor I deserved the self-sacrificial love of Christ, and yet “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8b). Christ did not wait for us to become holy, as if that were even possible, but died for us while we were still repugnant to his perfect holiness. He died for us when we were at our worst! Greater love has no one than this (John 15:13a), and he gives us that same love to love each other.
The Holy Spirit comforts us in the love of Christ
Consider the magnitude of this love of God in Christ Jesus, who loved us and gave himself up for us (Eph. 5:2). We are sinners saved by grace, reconciled to God the Father through faith in Christ the Son. Such truth comforts the heart and mind, to know that we are no longer the enemy of God but his child. And to confirm this we have been given the Holy Spirit, who is actively at work in us, preparing for eternal life with our God. He is the one who comforts us in the love of Christ by his indwelling presence and uses us to comfort one another in that same love.
In contrast to the church triumphant, who enjoys sinless fellowship with our Lord in heaven, the church militant consists of sinners like you and me, saved by grace through faith in Christ, living out that faith on earth. And in living out our faith we are sure to encounter conflict, even suffering for the sake of Christ (Phil. 1:29-30). There are times when we need to be comforted and other times when we are to comfort others, and the Holy Spirit uses us to do that very thing.
In his second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Such Spirit-led comfort is edifying to the church and leads to “being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind,” as we show Christ-like affection and sympathy to others. Concern for others replaces selfish ambition and conceit, as we “count others more significant than ourselves, looking to “the interests of others,” comforting others as only the Spirit of Christ through us can.
The Holy Spirit unites us as the body of Christ
Paul writes to the Ephesians, “I … urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3). Once again, he is encouraging us to live out the reality of the Christian faith with one another in the church. Our attitude is to be humility, our approach gentleness. Our expectations are to be directed by patience, our motive love. We are not passive spectators in what the Holy Spirit does in the. church but are “eager to maintain” the Holy Spirit enabled and empowered unity. We do not create unity but preserve it, bound together by the Spirit’s abiding peace.
This does not imply uniformity, as we are all uniquely created and gifted. But there is unity in our diversity, which Paul describes using the analogy of the human body. Writing to the Corinthians, he says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:12-13a). As such, we are each necessary parts of one body, gifted and arranged by God for the edification of the body to the glory of God (1 Cor. 12:18-20).
However, to agree that there are many members functioning within the body, using the various gifts God has given, is pretty easy, but agreeing on how each of us uses our spiritual gifts is not. The superiority of personal opinion is a blinding curtain, keeping us from seeing God at work in one another’s gifts. You may not like how he uses his gift of teaching, or how she uses her gift of hospitality. You may not like how he leads, or how she serves. The list goes on, but the point is what we don’t like, we are prone to criticize, which is like a match to a tinderbox, igniting the embers of our sinful flesh, breeding the wildfires of strife and contention in the church.
Proverbs says,
Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent (Prov. 11:12).
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Prov. 12:18).
A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger (Prov. 15:1).
James concurs, reminding us, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (Jas. 3:5-6). Disunity in the church comes by way of words, ignited kindling that can burn a church down.
But that is not the way of the Spirit, who unites us as one body. As one body, each one of us is called to serve selflessly and sacrificially, doing “nothing from selfish ambition or conceit” but instead counting “others more significant” than ourselves, looking not only to our “own interests,” but to “the interests of others.” If you are in Christ, you are called and gifted to serve the church. Simply pew sitting will not do. And it starts not with a program or a bulletin announcement but seeing the need of others and seeking to serve them in humility, like Christ. It is in the unity of the body that we so clearly see the Holy Spirit at work among us, serving without agenda or arrogance but one another to the glory of God.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to love like Christ
I am reminded of Martin Luther’s words on what happens when we seek to live the Christian life in our own strength:
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing;
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he,
Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.[3]
Unity in the church comes not from you, nor your strength. If so, you’ll lose the battle. But the “right man” is “on our side,” and he has not left us to ourselves, but has given us his Spirit, the Helper (John 14:26), who empowers us to love one another like Christ loved us. Rightly does Paul petition the church to have “the same love” (2:2), because it is a love of unity granted by the Spirit of unity and is the same love with which we have been loved. Spirit-empowered, Christ-like love then is not something we muster up, but something that flows through us in our love and obedience to Christ. Christians must not say we cannot love, or we cannot forgive, or we cannot reconcile with a brother or sister, because to say so is to deny the love we have been shown which grieves the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to do the very thing we think we cannot. An unwillingness to forgive and love like Christ results in self-destructive bitterness.
I am reminded of Corrie ten Boom’s encounter with the German prison guard who had humiliated her and her sister, Betsie, who subsequently died, at Ravensbrück, the Nazi concentration camp. After the war, God used Corrie to boldly speak on forgiveness, helping many to recover from debilitating resentment, anger, and bitterness. But on the day that Corrie saw that prison guard, she says, “my blood seemed to freeze.” After hearing Corrie speak and apparently not remembering her, the man walked up to her and said, “You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk. I was a guard in there. But since that time, I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well.” And then the man extended his hand to Corrie and asked, “will you forgive me?”
Corrie says, “And I stood there–I whose sins had every day to be forgiven–and could not. Betsie had died in that place–could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.” But, perhaps reluctantly, Corrie did reach out her hand to his, praying in her heart, “Jesus, help me!” And when she did, she says, “an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. ‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’[4]
The Holy Spirit who miraculously brings us to spiritual life, leads us to repentance, gives us faith, and continues his sanctifying work in us, empowering us, also miraculously, to love like Christ with affection and sympathy! Is there then “any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy” (2:1)? Indeed there is, for the Holy Spirit is at work in us to glorify the one who loves us most. Let us then love one another as we have been loved, by the Spirit of unity, in the likeness of Christ, to the glory of God. Amen!
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Trinity Hymnal, Revised Edition (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, 1990), 92.
[3] “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Trinity Hymnal, Revised Edition (Suwanee: Great Commission Publications, 1990), 92.
[4] https://guideposts.org/positive-living/guideposts-classics-corrie-ten-boom-forgiveness/
Planter, Pastor, Preacher 