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UNITED WE STAND

Joy for the Journey, Part 3

May 11, 2008

Pastor Bob Sanders

How do you define success when it comes to church life?  What metrics do you use to measure the effectiveness of this or any church?  We live in a “bigger is better” culture that defines success by numbers: how much and how many.  Frequently we in the church of Jesus Christ use these same standards.  A successful church is the one with the largest number of members, the most buildings, the biggest budget.  Numbers can be useful, but the apostle Paul had a different standard of measurement.  He wasn’t concerned so much with quantity of members as with the quality of their commitment.  And the number that impressed him the most was the number one.  An effective church was a church that believed as one, a church that worshipped as one, a church that served as one.  The greater the unity, the oneness in Christ, the more successful the church as far as Paul was concerned.

So far in our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians we’ve seen that Paul was full of gratitude for this church.  It was probably his favorite church, but it wasn’t perfect.  As you know (or should know) there are no perfect churches this side of heaven.  There was a particular danger Paul saw threatening the health of this congregation, and that danger was disunity.  In a sense, disunity is the danger that confronts any healthy, active church, our own included.  Because wherever people care passionately about their favorite beliefs or worship style or mission emphasis there is a danger they’ll let that particular preference define them instead of letting Jesus Christ define them.  They’ll huddle up with other like-minded folks and pull away from those who see things differently. 

Paul recognized this danger, and in our passage this morning he sets out to do two things.  First, he describes the importance of unity among Christians.  And second, he prescribes how to bring about unity in the midst of divisions.  So let’s listen carefully to what Paul is saying not only to the Philippians but to our own Lake Grove Presbyterian Church as well.

Philippians 1:27 – 2:4

27 Whatever happens, as citizens of heaven live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together with one accord for the faith of the gospel 28 without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.  This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.  29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

    1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in 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 of one mind.  3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Walk Your Talk

In verses 27 to 30 Paul describes the importance of unity among believers.  He begins in verse 27 with “Whatever happens” – that is, whether he is freed from prison or whether he is executed – “Whatever happens” Paul says, “Live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  The word translated “worthy” is axios in Greek, and it means “corresponding, comparable, congruent.”  Paul is saying to these Philippian believers: let your life together be congruent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1  Let what you preach and pray on Sundays show up in your relationships between Sundays. 

It reminds me of that little church I’ve told you about in rural Mississippi where I worshipped many years ago.  On the back wall of the sanctuary was a sign right over the exit door, a sign that said WALK YOUR TALK.  Every church ought to have something like that to remind us that as we leave this place the rest of the world will decide whether to believe our gospel by how we live it, and that begins with how we treat one another, how we honor one another, how we care for one another.  The gospel we preach says that Jesus Christ came to reconcile us to God and to one another, creating this new caring community.  That’s our talk.  But our message is discredited if our walk looks different, if our life together is fractured and fragmented.

Take what happened a few weeks ago in a very different church – in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one of Christianity’s holiest shrines.  The newspaper reported that during Palm Sunday services a bunch of priests from different denominations got into a brawl.  I’m not making this up.  It seems there’s this long-standing rivalry between the different Christian groups, and things blew up when a priest from one group kicked someone from the other group, pushed him to the ground and kept on kicking him.  Not exactly what you’d call “passing the peace.”  And then when the police intervened some of the worshippers started hitting them with the palm fronds they were holding. 

It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.  See, it’s not limited to Jerusalem.  One of the saddest things I’ve ever witnessed happened in the Denver Presbytery a number of years ago.  After a lengthy controversy over Biblical interpretation, one of the churches voted to leave the denomination.  And that was a very sad, very tragic thing to happen.  But what happened next was even worse.  An angry confrontation took place at the presbytery meeting, and within minutes security guards were dispatched to seize the church’s property, to stand guard, and to even change the locks on the doors.  The pastors were allowed to enter the buildings only to retrieve their personal belongings.  All this was reported in complete and agonizing detail by the local newspapers and television stations. 

Is it any wonder that so many shake their heads and turn away from the church?  We’re supposed to stand for something different.  “Live in a manner worthy of the gospel,” says Paul – consistent with the gospel, congruent with the gospel.  Can you imagine how divisions and disunity must grieve the heart of our Lord?  Earlier this year we studied his great prayer for the church in John 17.  Perhaps you remember how on his final night on earth Jesus prayed this way for his followers:

…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.  Then the world will know that you sent me. 2

Jesus is saying the non-believing world has the right to decide whether he is the Messiah, the One sent by the Father based not on our sermons or doctrine but on our visible love for one another, our oneness, our unity in him.  When we fail to be united as Christians, when we split and divide, when we gossip about and put down one another, we cannot expect our unchurched neighbors to believe a single word we say about Jesus Christ.  We have to walk the talk – beginning in here.  We have to demonstrate with our united lives that this Jesus we follow really does have the power to make us one, despite our differences in politics, in worship style, in age, in theological viewpoints.

“Stand firm in the one Spirit,” says Paul, “striving together with one accord for the faith of the gospel.”  The image Paul has in mind is the Roman phalanx – a team of highly disciplined soldiers formed into close ranks, marching against the enemy.  If they became divided they would be decimated.  But as long as the phalanx soldiers stayed tightly side by side and did not break rank, they were virtually invincible. 

So it is with us, says Paul.  When we remain united, we are able to face any adversity, any struggle, and not be defeated.  And there is adversity.  There are struggles.  In verse 29 Paul talks about not only believing in Christ but also suffering for him.  When we’re united with others in the body of Christ we get close enough to take on some of their hurt.  Some of you have spent long hours caring for others in this community of faith who were in great need.  You made their problems your problems.  You allowed yourself to be burdened by their struggles – the family that is disintegrating, the friend who is out of a job, the widow who is grieving, the person who is slogging through chemotherapy or struggling with depression. 

And that’s just the beginning.  Because we’re also linked to brothers and sisters in places like Senegal who don’t have enough to eat, in places like Zambia where so many children are orphaned by AIDS.  Every now and then I’ll hear someone say the really stupid statement that “Christianity is just a crutch.”  Not the Christianity we’re talking about.  Being united in a community like this involves us in more suffering, not less – vicarious suffering, chosen suffering with and for people we’re linked to right here and around the world.  We get close enough to others to suffer with them, to carry their pain.  Some crutch. 

Give Thanks

So in chapter 1 verses 27 to 30 Paul describes the importance of unity.  But he doesn’t stop there.  In the opening verses of chapter 2 he prescribes how to maintain this kind of oneness in Christ.  Look at what he does.  He knows the Philippians are well aware of the problem.  They understand that disunity is destructive and wrong.  So he doesn’t scold them.  Instead he affirms them.  Rather than zero in on their weaknesses, Paul focuses on what God is doing in their midst, the healthy and positive things they’ve experienced together. 

This is such an important lesson for all pastors and church leaders, for all spouses and parents, for all teachers and supervisors.  The way to help people change is not to major on what’s wrong, but to recognize and affirm what’s right.  So rather than exhort them, Paul encourages them to remember what God has been doing in and through them, and let that form the basis of their unity. 

What he does is make four statements beginning with “if.”  If these four things are true, says Paul, if the Philippians have in fact experienced these, then the church has a solid foundation for unity, and so this is what they need to focus on.  Look at chapter 2 verse 1:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion…

He’s asking the Philippians to remember what Christ has been doing in their lives, to reflect on what that means for their life together as a congregation.  He’s saying, “Stop and think.  How has Jesus Christ put courage into you when you were afraid?  He probably did that through other people, people in your church, didn’t he?  How has his love comforted you?  It probably came through the loving actions of other believers, right?  How has his Spirit knit your heart to other people when you were alone?  How have you experienced caring and compassion in your time of need?  Wasn’t it through the hearts and hands of those in your community there?” 

Remember these, Paul says.  When we get grumpy and divided, we tend to focus on what’s missing, what’s wrong, what’s not the way we’d like.  And we grow even more grumpy.  We become even more divided.  Don’t let that happen, Paul says.  Rather, remember the ways people were there for you.  Remember the ways the Lord used them to keep you going.  Remember the prayers and the practical support.  Remember the hugs, the handshakes, the cards and the casseroles.  Remember all the ways the people of God put courage into you when you needed it. 

In other words, Paul tells them to be grateful for what they have, not grumpy over for what they don’t have.  That’s a tall order in our church-hopping, consumerist culture today.  I don’t know anyone who’s said it better in our time than Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was martyred for his resistance to the Nazis in the 1940s.  Some years earlier he wrote a practical little guide for Christian community entitled Life Together.  It’s still the best thing out there, and I recommend it highly.  In one chapter he echoes what Paul is saying here – how important gratitude is for Christians in less-than-perfect churches:

In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life.  Only he who gives thanks for little things receives the big things.  We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts…. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.  How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?  If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is…much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary we only keep complaining to God that everything is so…far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ. 3

He’s saying just what Paul is saying: “Pay attention to what God is doing in your midst.  Anyone can spot the areas that are weak and broken.  You need to look for what’s good, what’s blessed, what’s healthy.  Look for every evidence of Christ: the caring, the giving, the transformed lives, the healing, the friendships, the hope.  That’s the foundation of your unity.  Focus on those things.  And give thanks.”

* * * * *

There’s much more we could say, but for now on this Pentecost Sunday, this birthday of the Christian church and this milepost day in the life of Lake Grove Presbyterian Church, ask yourself these questions:

• Am I vitally connected to some people in this church, people who know me at a deeper level, people I can trust, people with whom I can share what’s really going on in my life? 

• Do I honor what God is doing in the life of my church when I talk about it?  Do my words build up the body of Christ here or tear it down?

• Do I have any accurate idea as to what God is in fact doing in the life of my church?  Am I informed of what’s going on in its ministries, in its members, in its missions?  Do I regularly give thanks for what the Lord is doing here?

• Am I willing to hang in with this community through times of change and inconvenience, through remodeling programs and worship relocation?

• Am I looking for ways to build up this community, to discover the needs in this fellowship and help meet them, to strengthen the ties that bind us in Jesus Christ?  Or am I sitting back like a couch potato (is there such a thing as a pew potato?), waiting for someone to come and take care of me?

• Will I begin this day to pray regularly for my church – for its people and its pastors, for its teachers and leaders?  Will I regularly ask the Lord to bring us closer to Jesus Christ?  To deepen our love for one another?  To protect us from division and disunity?  To use us in reaching out to the least and the lost right here and around the world?

I close with Paul’s words:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived and died that we might be one in him.  Amen.

1. Earl Palmer, Integrity in a World of Pretense: Insights from the Book of Philippians (InterVarsity, 1992), p.75.
2. John 17:21,23 (TNIV).
3. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (Harper and Row, 1954), p.29.