Philippians 2:1-11
The Mind of Christ
I. \\#Phil 1:1-2\\ Introduction
II. \\#Phil 1:3-30\\ Paul’s Heart
III. \\#Phil 2:1-30\\ Paul’s Commands - Paul leaves talking about himself and his
heart so that he may challenge the Philippians on how to continue for
Christ. This chapter is about how the church is to behave, not just the
church of Philippi but all churches, Green Pond Baptist Church as much as
any other.
I. \\#Phil 2:1-11\\ Be Likeminded
A. \\#Phil 2:1\\ A Comparison - Paul starts by comparing what the relationship
of church members should be to the relationship we have with the Trinity.
1. "IF" - It is used four times in this verse so we should understand how
it is used.
a. This word is not being used as part of a conditional phrase.
(1) When it is, it leaves room for uncertainty.
(2) "IF it rains tomorrow, our church will float away."
(3) Using the word that way implies that there is some condition
that must first be meet before anything else will happen.
(4) As a condition phrase, there is some question what will happen.
b. Paul is using the word as an argumentative phrase.
(1) Paul is stating certainties not probabilities.
(2) Paul is saying, "SINCE or BECAUSE we have these things…."
c. What all of that means is that God has certainly given us a
relationship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, so we should
make sure that we have a certain type of relationship with the
members of the church.
d. We should note that the heavenly relationships are not the topic
of Paul's teaching.
(1) Paul wants to teach us about earthly relationships within the
church.
(2) However, he needs something to compare earthly church
relationships to that the church members will understand and
appreciate.
(3) So he mentions the relationships we have with the Trinity.
(4) Paul is taking it for granted that the members already
understand the relationship with the Godhead.
(5) I have the feeling that we have not thought as much about
that heavenly relationship as we should have.
2. What are these heavenly relationships?
a. We have "consolation in Christ."
(1) CONSOLATION is a big word.
(a) CONSOLATION means COMFORT.
i. The word deals with emotional reinforcement or
fortification.
ii. We are emotional beings and so, from time to time,
even the most emotionally stable person needs to
have an emotional building up.
iii. In Christ, we have One we can turn to when our
emotions need to be built up or reinforced.
iv. In the next phrase, Paul tells us what Christ uses to
comfort us.
aa. It is LOVE. Jesus LOVES on us.
bb. Love is what is needed to stabilize fragile,
emotional humans.
v. Without love, no human being is going to be stable
for long.
aa. Sadly, one of the things that many children are
being reared without in this age is love.
Romans 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful:
2 Timothy 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
(b) CONSOLATION means CALLING.
i. The word does not mean TO BE CALLED, but TO CALL,
especially TO CALL FOR HELP.
ii. In Christ, we have Someone whom we may call upon for
help.
iii. Again, the context is EMOTIONAL.
aa. Jesus is our Help in the physical world, and we
may call upon Him to aid us in all aspects of
our worldly existence.
bb. However, the emergency need not be physical.
cc. Jesus will rush to LOVE US whenever we feel an
emotional lacking or hurt.
(c) CONSOLATION means ENCOURAGEMENT.
i. To be encouraged is to be given courage, or heart,
or emotional strength.
ii. The word used tells us….
aa. What is being offered - emotional reinforcement.
bb. It tells what we need to do - just call.
cc. And it tells us what it will do for us - It
will strengthen and help our emotions, our
heart.
(2) Remember, this is not something we may have. It is something
we do have. It is the relationship that we have with Jesus
Christ.
b. We have "fellowship of the Spirit" or with the Spirit.
(1) FELLOWSHIP means we have COMPANIONSHIP, COMMUNICATION, and
PERSONALIZATION or INTIMACY.
(2) FELLOWSHIP means that the Holy Ghost is with us.
(a) This is not a maybe. It is a fact. \\#Pro 18:24\\
\\#Matt 28:20\\
(b) The Holy Ghost is a Person with a presence that you
feel.
(c) You cannot have fellowship with a person who is not there.
(3) FELLOWSHIP means that the Holy Ghost talks to us.
(a) There is no fellowship with communication.
(b) We talk to God and God talks to us.
(c) Both of these communications comes through the abiding
work of the Holy Ghost within us.
(4) FELLOWSHIP means that the Holy Ghost is personal with us.
(a) But this fellowship is not just abstract. It is not
just "in your head."
(b) No more so than the relationship between a man and his
wife or parent and the child.
(c) You may not be able to put it into words or hold it, but
it is a tangible, personal relationship with the Holy
Spirit.
c. We have "bowels and mercies."
(1) In our culture, that may now sound so sweet, but it is.
(a) The Hebrews used the word BOWELS as we use the word
HEART.
(b) Bowels is the place from which love, compassion, and
mercy come.
(c) The notion is that we have a relationship of love and
mercy with one of the members of the Trinity.
(2) Which member?
(a) The text does not say.
(b) I believe it is with the Member who has not yet been
mentioned, the Father.
(c) The image of God the Father being harsh and unloving is
incorrect.
i. God is just.
ii. But God is also the very definition of love and
mercy.
iii. In fact, all love and mercy comes from Him. They
are His gifts to us and His commandments for us.
(d) People talk about the "spirit of Christmas."
i. They are speaking of the strong feelings of love,
mercy, and compassion that are supposed to be felt
that time of the year.
ii. Those feeling come from God and they are associated
with Christmas because of what the angel said to
the shepherds—at God’s command.
Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
(3) Christians have God’s peace and good will all year long.
(4) That is the relationship that we have in Him.
3. These relationships are the basis for the comparison that Paul makes
to the kind of relationships we should have inside the church.
B. \\#Phil 2:2\\ A Command
1. "be likeminded"
a. That is, among the church, we should have the same mind.
b. To be certain we understood what he meant, Paul defines the word
himself three different ways.
(1) Have one love.
(a) That is, we are to love every believer with the same
degree of love.
(b) This has to do with how we treat one another within the
church.
(c) In some churches, people have favorites or clicks.
i. In larger churches, I suppose that is necessary.
ii. However, we must reach out so that every believer
is loved and cared for.
(d) Remember, emotional beings need love to keep them stable.
(e) We need the love of Jesus, but I have found that Jesus
often loves on us through other people.
(f) No believer should ever feel unloved or uncared for
within the church.
(2) Be of one accord.
(a) ACCORD is actually two Greek words used together.
i. One is the words means TOGETHER, SUM, or UNITED.
ii. The other is the word for SOUL, which is the seat
of our feelings.
(b) This is another emotional term as opposed to an
intellectual term.
(c) With these two words, Paul is saying we should have
one heart or one way of feeling the same about things.
(d) We should feel the same about the lost, the Bible, the
Great Commission, major doctrines, sin, and other
major issues.
(e) Note - It is that collective heart beat that makes a
church unique, even more than what we believe.
i. Granted, what we believe is far more important.
ii. However, I know churches that believe about the same
as we, but I do not "feel" at home there.
iii. Why? Because they do not feel the same as I do
about what we believe.
iv. The heart-beat of the church is very important.
(3) Be of one mind.
(a) This means should all think alike or have agreement in
the way we think.
(b) The emphasis here is intellectual.
i. We should share like beliefs.
ii This would have to do with major doctrines and how
we think we are to carry out the commands of Christ.
2. Let me hasten to say two things:
a. Having one mind and one heart does not mean we are to be stamp out
individuality.
(1) Even though we are to be one on the major points, we are to
be tolerant individuals.
Romans 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded
one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing
one another in love;
Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels
of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel
against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
(2) The Holy Spirit grows us in different ways, in different
orders, by different experiences, for different purposes
so that while we are one in mind we are different in
individuality.
1Corinthains 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the
members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
(3) What God is looking for is unity in diversity.
(a) That is a difficult concept to explain, but we have an
example.
(b) Jesus preached the same message about the same salvation
taking us all to the same heaven to everyone, but He
loved and accepted everyone.
(c) Jesus dealt with sin. Sin is bad and needs to be
removed.
(d) However, Jesus did not try to change personality.
(4) Who you and I are today, we will always be.
(a) Heaven removes sin but it does not change who we are.
(b) Your loves, dislikes, habits, thoughts, experiences,
memories - the things that makes you who you are, will
still be you in heaven.
(c) We will forever be one in Christ yet uniquely different.
b. The pattern for our likenesses is not on this earth.
(1) No pastor, no minister, no elder, no deacon, and no group of
leaders is given as the pattern we are to follow.
(2) \\#Phil 2:5\\ tells us that the pattern is JESUS.
(a) We are to love like Jesus, think like Jesus, and feel
about things the way Jesus felt.
(b) That is not as difficult as one may think.
i. We have His life, actions, commands, and precepts
recorded in the Word.
ii. We have the Holy Spirit implanted within our hearts.
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