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The Unity of Community – Part 4

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

Philippians 2:5–11

Philippians chapter 2, starting in verse 5.

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. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:5–11)

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you so much for the fall party going so well, for bringing so many people, for them hearing the Word preached, for them hearing the gospel. We pray that those seeds planted would bear much fruit, God, that Satan would not snatch away those seeds, that the worries of the world would not choke away the seed, and that it would be planted on good soil. We thank you, Father, that we can come together and we can have fellowship with you, as we see with the table here illustrated, and that we also have fellowship with one another. And thank you, Father, that we can sing your praises, we can rejoice at how good you are. We thank you, Lord, that there is a unity that comes from none other than you, the triune God. We pray that you would continue to keep the unity of the Spirit here amongst us and that we would walk in unity with one another for your glory, Lord. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Why Unity Matters

All right, why is unity so important to Paul? I mean, almost every time he writes a letter, he brings up the issue of unity. When he writes to the Romans, he brings it up at least three times, and he tells them in Romans 12, live in harmony with one another. In Romans 14, the entire chapter is about living in harmony and unity. You have the weaker brother, you have the stronger brother. So there’s deference that’s being given. You get to 1 Corinthians 1, and actually let’s just look there briefly, 1 Corinthians 1. His very first appeal is to the Corinthians to be unified. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 10 it says, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” And that entire chapter he goes on to deal with this. Some say they’re of Apollos. Some say they’re of Cephas. No, unity. Right from the very beginning, he’s addressing this. Galatians 5 and 6, the entire chapters there are all about unity. Ephesians 4, it’s all about unity. Colossians 3, we could look at these more in depth. We’re not going to. But here he brings it up again in Philippians. Why? Because unity, or I should say disunity, is always a disaster waiting to happen in any church. Because disunity can happen to any church and it can happen rather quickly. John MacArthur said, “There should be no illusion that because a church is doctrinally sound, spiritually committed, and active in ministry that no such disunity could occur.” Well, why do churches split? They don’t split because they’re unified. True? So why is it so serious? Because of the untold damage that it does. Because there’s damage to individuals, there’s damage to families, there’s damage to the gospel witness. And all it takes—how much, what does it take for disunity? It just takes one person. One person can do a whole lot of damage. And a lot of times people say, oh, I would never let that happen to me, oh, I’d never get sucked into the drama. And what happens? People get sucked into the drama.

Guard the Unity of the Church

So you need to guard the unity of the church. Satan is on the prowl looking to sow discord. Our flesh is looking to sow discord. Why? Because our flesh wants to exert itself and put itself as the preeminent one. What is Philippians getting at? We have this amazing passage. It’s one of the most beautiful. It’s really a hymn, and it’s very likely that the early church sung it, being a hymn. And it describes who Christ is, but really the purpose, even though we get some amazing insights into Christ and some great Christology, really the focus is look to Jesus because he’s the best example of humility, and then it tells us why. But we need to make sure that we guard the unity of the church. In Ephesians 4 we’re told, “with all humility”—there it is—“and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” So if we want to walk in unity, we’ve got to have humility. Why? Because humility goes back to the Ephesians 2 principle of put others’ interests above your own. If you’re doing that, it’s hard to be disunified. In Psalm 133 it says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” And it is a good thing, isn’t it? It’s very good.

I remember telling a couple, this goes back quite a ways, getting involved in a situation, and I remember telling them, look, you’re kind of wading into this issue and trying to help out, but you’re only in ankle deep, and you think you see clearly. But at this shallow level, you’re only getting a partial view. And if you’re going to get involved, you actually need to get in all the way and not be ankle deep anymore. You need to get in all the way and engage with all the perspectives if you truly want to help out. Staying ankle deep and listening to one side isn’t fair and doesn’t make you informed. There’s always the great potential for disunity.

I mean, some of the stupidest things churches have split over. I did a little bit of research and there was a church that split over the color of the carpet. One wanted red, the other faction wanted blue. We just decided to make ours just all sorts of colors, so—and then we got rid of the carpet, so there you go. Another church split over the temperature in the sanctuary. Rumor has it that arguments were heated. Of course, churches split over worship style. We’ve heard that time and time again. Hymns, contemporary, organ, no organ, choir, no choir. One church split because certain members’ food at the church potluck was more preeminently placed. One church split over the choice of coffee before and after the service. One church split over the font used in the bulletin. One church split over Christmas decor. What do these silly squabbles do? They make it so that we’re inward focused. We’re looking at ourselves. We’re thinking about, hey, what do I want? But what are we told in Titus 3? Look at Titus. In Titus 3, we’re told in verse 9, “But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.” They are unprofitable and worthless, and they cause division. I mean, consider this, think about Israel in the Old Testament, when was Israel most dangerous to its enemies? When it’s united, right? Think of the separate kingdoms, you have the Northern Kingdom, you have the Southern Kingdom, they split after Solomon’s reign. Were they better off divided? No, you have two separate armies. In fact, they actually go numerous times, but you have two separate armies, two separate peoples, they’re not united. Think about if there never would have been a division between the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Even in the New Testament, over and over again, we saw that just in Corinthians, there’s a division over leadership. In Galatians, look at Galatians, there’s a division going on, Paul addresses it pretty upfront.

Peter and Paul at Antioch

Galatians 2. In verse 11 it says:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

(Galatians 2:11–14)

Now, is this a first-tier issue or a second-tier issue? It’s first-tier. Now, it could be easy if it’s phrased the wrong way to think it’s a second-tier issue or a third-tier issue. We’re just—Paul, you’re upset about where people sit at dinner. You can phrase it that way. And that puts it into a second- or third-tier issue. But what is at stake here? The gospel, right? So at some point in the future, I actually have some notes already made because I think it’s important to try to understand first-tier issues versus second-tier issues versus third-tier issues, because sometimes what appears to be second- and third-tier issues are actually first-tier issues. But the way they’re phrased, even in our modern society, make us think less important of them, even though they’re pretty key. So if you weren’t careful here, this is a great example, if this is phrased like, come on Paul, what’s the big deal? Peter doesn’t want to sit somewhere while he’s eating dinner? No. What’s at stake here is the gospel. And here’s my question. Who caused the division? Peter, right? I mean, Peter caused the division, yes? And what happens? He’s like, even Barnabas was led astray. I mean, Barnabas, come on, y’all, he’s led astray. So one person’s actions affects others, and what do we see? Even Barnabas can be led astray on these issues. Why? Because sometimes they mask as second-tier issues. Sometimes they mask as third-tier issues. But they’re first-tier, and people can be led astray. So Peter causes the division. Paul points it out. He points it out in front of everyone, as public as the sin, as public as the rebuke. He says in verse 14, “I said to Cephas before them all,” right? He rebukes him publicly. So Peter causes the division. Paul points it out, but what normally happens? The one who points out the sin normally becomes the bad guy. That’s usually what happens. Even if you think like in a family, you know, when the troublemaker in the family is confronted by a family member, who does the whole family freak out and get mad at? They don’t get mad at the troublemaker. I mean, they’ve already put up with him for years and dealt with it. Now, what do they do? They get mad at the one who points out the sin and calls out the troublemaker, completely unbiblical. So now, if you’re going to point the finger, you need to make sure you’re pointing the finger in the right direction. My mom actually used to say, be careful who you point the finger at and when you point the finger, because there’s always three pointing back at you. So be careful who you accuse, because maybe the accusation really is needed to be aimed at you. Also be careful because if you’re not careful, it’s very possible you’re making a false accusation, and that’s very serious.

The Trinity: A Perfect Picture of Unity

Well, unity is important to the triune God. That’s why he has his apostles address it over and over and over and over and over again. Why is it so important? Because our Father is the one who created us, who loves us, and wants to see his children walk in unity. He knows the damage that it can cause. What about the Spirit? What’s important to him? I mean, he’s the Spirit of unity. What about Jesus? Well, he’s the one that prayed that we might be one. So the Trinity is the perfect picture of unity. I mean, they are in perfect fellowship. Look at John chapter 17. This is called the High Priestly Prayer, in John 17. This is Jesus speaking, verse 4:

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

(John 17:4–5)

Those are two very powerful verses. Like, I glorified you and now you glorify me. Well, the Son shouldn’t be saying that unless he’s on the same level as the Father, right? I mean, would you ever dream of saying to God, glorify me? That would be blasphemy—unless you’re Jesus, who is God. So “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do, and now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world.” And so here, his pre-existence is mentioned. But then go down a few verses because I want you to see something in addition. He says, starting in verse 20, same chapter:

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

(John 17:20–23)

I mean, even if we just actually pause for a moment, notice what it says in 23. Okay, so here’s the reason: that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. There’s a strong evangelistic element to being in unity as a church, right? That they may be perfectly one. What’s the reason the Father wants us one? It’s a testament to the world so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. They see our unity and they’re like, okay, where’s that coming from? And they know it’s a testament to who God is and what he’s done through his Son, Jesus.

Perichoresis

Now, when we talk about some of the terms here with the Trinity, there’s a word, and probably most of you have never heard it before. It’s called perichoresis. It’s actually not found in the Greek New Testament, but it’s a theological term, and it’s used in three different contexts. First, you’ll see it used in reference to the two natures of Christ, the hypostatic union. We’re not going to discuss it today. But it’s used there. Second, it’s used, that term, when it talks about the omnipresence of God as he intersects with all creation. Think of Acts 17 verse 28: “In him we live and move and have our being.” But then here specifically, the third point is it’s the mutual intersecting or interpenetration of the three persons of the Godhead. Think of what we just read, right? The Father’s in the Son, the Son’s in the Father, the Spirit’s in both. It can help clarify the concept of the Trinity. I’m indebted to, well, all the theologians that came before me, okay? But I’m using their words. It is a term that expresses intimacy and reciprocity among the persons of the Godhead. That’s why he says, and he begins his prayer in verse 1 of chapter 17, “Father”—right, so he’s addressing God—“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” I mean, that’s how his prayer begins. And earlier in chapter 16 he talks about actually [audio unclear] so let’s just look there so you can see it for [audio unclear] “things that are to come.” And then verse 14, chapter 16: “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” So what we see clearly here, I mean, it’s stated, the Spirit glorifies the Son. What does the Son do? The Son glorifies the Father. What does the Father do? The Father glorifies the Son. The loving relationships within the Trinity result in the persons of the Godhead giving glory to one another. So we see this intimacy and reciprocity among the persons of the Godhead. Right? So the Father is looking to glorify the Son. The Son is looking to glorify the Father. The Spirit is looking to glorify the Son. And you can actually go in reverse direction as well. The Spirit is looking, and so is the Son looking, to glorify the Spirit. So the Father, if you think about it, this idea of the perichoresis, it’s the fellowship of three co-equal persons, perfectly embraced in love and harmony, and expressing an intimacy that no one can humanly comprehend. So the Father sends, right? The Father, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son.” So the Father sends, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son—excuse me, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son, John 15: “But when the Helper comes, whom”—who’s going to send? “Oh, whom I will send,” this is Jesus speaking, “but when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you,” but where is he coming from? It says, “from the Father.” So when the Helper comes, again, speaking of the Holy Spirit, “whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” So the Son sends the Spirit who is from the Father. There’s this interconnectedness. There is nothing that separates the persons of the Trinity or interrupts the mysterious interchange. And again and again we could actually go back a couple chapters to John 14. We see it again. In verse 5, he tells them, I’m going away. Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where you’re going. How can we know the way?” Verse 6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” “From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Again, can any mere man make that statement? No. “Do you believe,” verse 10, “that I am in the Father” [audio unclear] that the Son is in the Father, and the Father is in [audio unclear]. First, the three persons of the Trinity are all fully in one another. That’s the “in me, in me, in me.” Second, each person of the Trinity, listen to me, each person of the Trinity is in full possession of the divine essence. That’s why Paul can say what he says in Colossians, the fullness dwells, the fullness dwells. So each person of the Trinity is in full possession of the divine essence. It’s not like, oh, if Jesus is here, then he’s only got partial essence. No, he’s got the full divine essence. All right, obviously the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father. Perichoresis doesn’t deny any of that. What it maintains is you cannot have one person out of the Trinity without having the other two. If they’re in each other, then if you’ve got one, you’re getting the other two. And you cannot have any person out of the Trinity without having the fullness of God. Colossians: with Jesus you have the fullness of deity. So this intercommunion of the persons is reciprocal and their operations are inseparable. Say it again, each are in each and all in each and each in all and all are one. But if we start to understand just even a little bit of that, then we can start to understand why unity is so important because the Trinity itself is unity. I mean, literally the word, tri-unity, you’re just putting two words together. So God displays a perfect unity and he wants his children to have it.

We could go through, and maybe we’ll look at a couple verses here showing that we see this idea of the Trinity working together. Sometimes it’s explicit and sometimes it’s implicit in the text. We’ll look at a couple. Look at 2 Corinthians 13. 2 Corinthians 13, verse 14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” If we substituted any person’s name for Jesus, that would just sound awkward to the ears. And it should. But we see here, we see the Father, we see the Son, and we see the Spirit together. All three mentioned. You see it with the baptism of Jesus. Look at Luke chapter 3. Luke 3:21: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’” Right? So Jesus, I mean, he’s being baptized. The Spirit’s coming down in the form of a dove. And what is the Father? The Father is from heaven. What is he speaking? He’s speaking a blessing onto his Son. Right? You see the three acting, but they’re not acting independently. That’s the point. Acting in unity. Our unity is based on the Trinity. Everything we have, everything we already need as believers to attain, we’ve already seen it in Philippians, we already have it to have unity. If you are a believer, you have what you need to have unity. You don’t need to have anything else added. If you have the Spirit living inside of you, if you have salvation from God, if Jesus’ blood covers you and your sins, then unity is possible. That’s why you can have baby believers. They can come into a church. There can be unity. Now, are there certain things? Yeah, there’s means by which we get there. That was like the second sermon. And here we’re saying, what is one of those key things? And what we’re being told? It’s humility. I mean, there’s fruit of the Spirit, yes. But what we’re being presented clearly, without a doubt, if you want to walk in unity, there has to be humility. There has to be humility.

Disunity Is Sin

Disunity is sin. I mean, it’s a height of selfishness. It says my way, my way only. You gotta follow me. You gotta do it my way. I don’t care what the consequences are. That’s not of God. One theologian said, “Probably there is no single thing so much insisted on in the New Testament as the importance of harmony among Christians.” I mean, and that’s what we’ve seen over and over and over. Unity, unity, unity, unity. And part of the reason it’s discussed over and over is because at times it can be rather fragile, and can be broken rather easily. Look at Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs 6, verse 16:

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

(Proverbs 6:16–19)

Which one’s talking about unity or disunity? Which one of those? I mean, probably a number of them, but the last one, clearly, one who sows discord among brothers. Look back in verse 16. When you see this, and I think Amos, you’ll see it quite a bit. It’ll just be like, oh, there’s three things, yes, four, or something like that. Well, it’s a rhetorical device in Hebrew to emphasize that the last one listed is the worst one of all. So there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination. It’s not like the guy forgot to count, okay? No, it’s just a rhetorical device to say, yes. And that seventh one, it’s the worst one of all. What’s the worst one? That’s an abomination, one who sows discord among brothers. God doesn’t call every single sin an abomination. He doesn’t. Certain sins are set aside and called to be abominations. Here he’s specifically calling this an abomination of abominations, if you will. One who sows discord among brothers. Why? Because of the strife and destruction it causes. We have to put it aside, we have to deny it, we have to call it out, we have to walk in unity.

What It Means to Walk in Unity

What does it mean to walk in unity? Well, one, here’s the thing, kind of obvious but maybe not, it actually assumes you have relationships. It assumes you’re having fellowship. It assumes you’re interacting with other believers in your church. I mean, it’s hard to be in disunity with believers you don’t know. I mean, we could go down the street to some church. I mean, I might have a general unity of the Spirit, right? But Paul doesn’t command them to have fellowship. He assumes it’s happening. The natural outworking of someone getting saved is that they will be in fellowship with other believers, that they will have a relationship, that they will do life together. I mean, think if you were a believer living in Philippi. I mean, where are you going to go on Sundays? You going to stay at home? You going to slip in and slip out of the church service? Or are you going to be there and be involved? Listen, it’s easy to keep the peace when you don’t interact with anyone. And sometimes what happens in houses with spouses is they have a peace because they really don’t interact on any big issues. I mean, it’s a faux peace. They call it peace. We know it’s not peace. But it’s easy to keep the peace when you don’t interact with anyone. Well, that’s unbiblical. So we should be interacting. We should be having relationships. We should be having fellowship. And then we need to strive to do relationships well. It is possible with Christ. Why? Because he’s given us the foundation for what we need to have unity himself. Listen, offenses are going to occur. They’re going to occur. Hurts are going to happen. They’re going to happen. What do you do? It’s interesting. It’s like if your family and you have your sibling, or your parent, or your spouse, or your kids, like a lot of times they can do some grievous things. But those usually, those get mended. Usually. Not always, but usually they get mended. But I mean, why is it that some people are so immature that when it comes to the church and they get offended and then they just leave? Or they get offended and then they cause a disruption? Listen, our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ should be highly valuable to us, and if there’s a brokenness there then we should seek to have it mended. We shouldn’t be afraid to have hard conversations. That’s how you make sure disunity doesn’t occur. And when we handle things with humility, those tough conversations, they foster unity. They help disunity not to occur.

One theologian said, “There is a sense in which it is the danger of every healthy church, unity. It is when people are really in earnest, when their beliefs really matter to them, that they are apt to get up against each other. The greater their enthusiasm, the greater the danger that they may collide. It is against that danger Paul wished to safeguard his friends.” I mean, think about it for a moment. Have you ever been to a prison? Notice that that “a” is very important, because if I said have you ever been to prison, that’s a different question, right? But have you ever visited a prison? Like prisons, they’re pretty unified. Everyone stands in a straight line. Everyone eats together at the same time. Everyone goes to bed together at the same time. I mean, but that’s an external unity. It’s a forced unity. I mean, what happens if you remove the guards? Not going to be much unity. What happens if you took down the walls, removed the bars? Not going to be much unity. That’s an external unity. That’s not what we’re looking for. That’s not what the Lord’s talking about.

Eager to Maintain the Unity of the Spirit

Notice that first word, Ephesians 4:3, “eager,” being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Not just like, oh, well, hopefully it happens. No, we’re eager to do that because it’s important to the Lord, it’s important to us. And that’s the kind of basic principle of being a believer, right? Important to the Lord, important to us. So God wants not an external unity, but he wants, more importantly, an internal unity. One that only his Spirit dwelling in us can produce. Brothers and sisters, that’s the unity we have. That is the unity we have, that’s the unity we display. I would say currently we’re doing a good job of doing that. It’s always the best time to preach on something too, honestly. I’m more than willing to deal with stuff if stuff pops up and I’ll deal with it while we’re going through it too. But it is a lot easier to address it while we’re not going through anything. True? And praise God that we have the unity, but I mean, listen, I believe in the sovereignty of God. God is big and powerful, and we aren’t. And so, just like David was sharing, I mean, that was God’s providence, and God’s sovereignly working that out. You know, David said they had a falling out yesterday. The chances of that happening—well, in a secular society, pretty slim. In God’s society, pretty large. He’s going to do as he pleases. So when we talk about unity, and when, I mean, I believe that sovereignly, usually topics get hit on in the order that they’re needed for the church to hear and receive. And one of just teaching through a book is when things come up, the preacher can address it, and it’s hard for people to complain because you can’t, oh, you’re picking on me. Well, I’m just preaching through the text. All right? But listen, at some point, at some point, our unity will be challenged. That I can guarantee you. It might be next week, next month, next year, it might be five years. I hope it’s 25 years because I’ll probably be retired by then. No, I’m just kidding. But it will be challenged and we need to decide like now we need to take this word and figure out what will we do when it happens here. Hopefully you’re taking this and applying it to your family life, your personal life, relationships there. That’s important. But I’m saying what we’re dealing with is the unity of the big church, capital C, all believers, but really specifically a little church. I mean, Paul’s writing to the Philippians. He’s dealing with little-c issue in the Philippian church, all the other churches he’s addressing, but in a very broad way, he’s addressing the big C, capital church, all believers everywhere. But for us, we need to be prepared. That’s why we’re seeing, oh, well, that’s not really a problem, great. Let’s make sure we continue to do these things. Let’s make sure we continue to walk in it. And if you get to the point next week, next month, next year, whether there’s an issue, five years, 10 years, 25, if you need to, you can listen to the sermon series. Get into Philippians, look at this for yourself. [audio unclear] I’ve shown you the way from the Scripture. So that’s the way we continue to walk by God’s grace. Amen. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray. Father, we do thank you that you have given us a very strong unity in this church. We pray that you would continue to keep it. You’ve shown us the way to do that. May we be humble enough, may we walk in humility to continue to keep the bond of peace, to continue to walk in unity, and that we would be eager for it. We thank you, Lord, that we have a commonality, which is you, your Son, and your Spirit, that you are the foundation for who we are. We thank you that you are the truest and the best example of unity and humility. Continue to keep that amongst us here, your children, God, for your glory. Amen.