NewSpring Church - Wichita, Kansas

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,

2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)

It’s a simple “if-then” or “cause-effect” formula. You’ve seen them in literature, science, math and computer formulas. If ____ is true, then the result or the effect is ___. Let’s look at Paul’s if-then formula.
 

If

• You have any encouragement from being united with Christ
• You have any comfort from his (Christ’s) love
• You have any fellowship with the Spirit
• You have received tenderness and compassion

Then

• Be like-minded
• Have the same love
• Be one in spirit and purpose
   

Now, I can’t speak for you, but I am greatly encouraged to know that I have been united with Christ! I will not stand before God exposed, embarrassed, and condemned by my sin. Instead, I will stand before God covered with the righteousness given to me by Jesus – WOW!! That’s amazing!

When life feels so heavy I don’t think I can face the day, I find myself embraced by the love of the one who feels my pain along with me. He cares and his amazing love keeps me going.

Fellowship. What is that anyway? The dictionary says “fellowship” is “a friendly relationship or companionship”. God’s Spirit is with me all the time, guiding me, protecting me, affirming me. It may seem strange to have such an intimate relationship with someone who is invisible, but it’s so much more convenient and effective that he is a Spirit. He doesn’t have to leave me when it’s too crowded, or when I’m asleep, or sick, or in trouble. He lives in me so he’s always there.

I don’t know about you, but I know that God pursued me and continues to pursue me tenderly with his unconditional love. His compassion for me that caused him to make the ultimate sacrifice is overwhelming in its depth.

So what is the effect? Having experienced and continuing to experience these things, the result is we will intentionally be like-minded with Christ, sharing his love for others, being united with him in his sprit and purpose. Have we spent any time lately discovering what is on God’s mind, reaching out in love to those he loves, and discovering what he is busy doing? We can and should be if we are motivated by all his blessings.

Having just pointed out how important it is for us to get involved in what God is doing, it’s interesting that Paul now warns us not to do anything out of “selfish ambition or vain conceit.” Even God’s “work” can be done for self-glorification instead of for God’s glory.

The last two verses of this passage are extremely counter-culture, aren’t they? Our culture indoctrinates us to indulge our self and our pride in every way possible – everything is about me, but here we’re told to humble ourselves and think of others more highly than ourselves. That may not sound like a good strategy for “getting ahead” in this world, but consider for a moment the people in your life that you consider successful, and more importantly, people you really enjoy being around. Are they self-centered? Do they talk constantly about themselves, complaining about everyone and everything that annoys or offends them? If you enjoy being around them, that is probably not the case. Usually, the people we are drawn to are those who are humble, those who are sincerely concerned about others.

Life is complicated and we all have complex situations and relationships that bring us pain from time to time. It would be so easy to be consumed by ourselves and who and what we need to deal with every day. With God’s help we can put aside our own pain and difficulties and reach out with help and encouragement for others, valuing them even more than ourselves.