A SAFE PLACE TO BE

Philippians 2:1-4

Phil. 2:1 If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,

Phil. 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;

Phil. 2:4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

Our study of Philippians

has brought us to the first few verses of chapter 2.

These verses are actually part of a letter

written by Paul from prison in Rome

to his friends in Philippi

as Paul was waiting for his trial before Caesar.

It is a short letter by New Testament standards,

it is an intensely personal letter,

a letter written between friends,

a letter written by Paul

to a group of people

who cared deeply about him,

who were not even sure if he was still alive,

and who longed to hear how he was doing.

If you were with us earlier in this study

when we were studying the first chapter of this letter,

you may recall Paul making such comments as,

Phil. 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you...

and things like

Phil. 1:12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel...

You know what this letter does for us?

It allows us to listen in

on what both Paul and the Philippian Christians know

may be their last shared communication

with one another.

This is Paul saying, “Keep praying for me,

but don’t worry about me -

my life,

my safety,

my future are all held tightly

in the hands of my Lord.

I have found Him to be more than adequate

for me here,

alone in prison,

just as He was adequate for me

when I stood before the cheering crowds.

I don’t know why He has allowed this,

I just know He has,

and that’s really all I need to know.”

I don’t know if you’ve noticed,

but our Lord rarely does things

the way we would do them,

and even when He does,

He usually does them for very different reasons than we had in mind.

Look at this letter, for example.

Now just think about this-

this is the only letter we have

being sent from Paul

to this church that was in the infant stages of their establishment as a church

at a critical time in the whole Christian movement.

And just as significant,

this is not an issue-driven letter,

it is a relationship-driven letter.

By that I mean that it was not some critical error or unanswered question

that prompted Paul to write,

as we have with most of his other letters,

it was motivated simply by his love for the Philippian Christians

and his longing to communicate with them.

When I think about that

there are two huge surprises to me.

The first is seeing the subjects Paul DOES discuss,

and the second is

seeing the subjects he does NOT discuss.

Why didn’t Paul spend some time

encouraging them to keep up

a strong evangelistic outreach in their city?

Why didn’t he outline for them

a strategy of door-to-door witnessing,

or give them instructions

on conducting an effective city-wide rally,

or Christian literature campaign?

Why doesn’t he use his precious few pages

talking about how to become an aggressive

and successful young church?

Instead he talks to them about

some of the things he is learning in his own life about God’s faithfulness,

encouraging them not to be alarmed

by the opponents that seek to destroy them,

and instructing them in how to keep

their relationships with one another

strong and healthy.

I mean really!

When is he going to talk about the business of being a successful church -

getting more people

and more programs

and more outreach?

Do you know what I find really unsettling about the book of Philippians?

It has a way of forcing me

to re-examine my priorities

in the light of God’s priorities

and then deal with the difference.

These first four verses of Philip. 2

are an excellent example.

We’re going to walk through these verses

one step at a time,

but let me tell you right up front

what I see Paul saying here.

These verses just scream

one central message:

In the REAL WORLD, God’s world,

what happens between you and me and in you and me is far more important

than what happens through you and me.

I see Paul doing three things for us

in these first four verses

of Philippians 2.

In verse one he offers us the results

or the GOAL he wants us to long for

in our church,

in our home,

in our life.

He says,

Phil. 2:1 If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion...

Now I know what happens with verses like this

where we are offered a list of things

one right after another.

We tend to just whiz through them

to see what kind of feeling they give us.

Clearly this list gives us a nice feeling -

talking about nice things to have

or to experience.

But I want us to slow down enough

to at least taste a little

of what’s really being said.

Paul lists five specific goals

or results

that he places at the top of the list

for each believer

and each body of believers.

1. If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ...

The word that Paul uses for “encouragement” means literally

“a calling to one’s aid”.

It is translated as encouragement

or consolation

or comfort.

It is used throughout the New Testament

to describe the work of the Holy Spirit

within each believer.

It is used to describe the impact

one Christian’s love has on another.

It is used to describe the effect Scripture has in the life of the believer.

And here in this verse

it is used to describe the effect

of the presence of Christ Himself in our life.

He is the One who is called to our aid,

to offer assistance,

and comfort,

and consolation,

and love.

OK, now I want us to think about that...

Why would Christ describe Himself

in those terms?

What is He trying to tell us

about the kind of relationship

He has established between us

and Himself?

He does it because He is trying to radically alter

our understanding of the kind of relationship He seeks to share

with each of His children.

He wants us to truly know

how radically things have changed.

Have you ever listened to the words of the song You Raise Me Up?

I suppose the song was written as love song,

but every time I hear it

I’m struck again with what a powerful description it is

of the kind of relationship our Lord Jesus Christ offers each of us.

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary:

When troubles come and my heart burdened be;

Then I am still and wait here in the silence,

Until you come and sit a while with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up to more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;

Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;

But when you come and I am filled with wonder

Sometimes I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up to more than I can be.

That’s a description of the absolute best of human friendships,

the kind of friendships

that very few people ever experience.

But it is also the perfect description

of the kind of friendship our Lord seeks to share with each us.

He is the greatest source of encouragement

any human being can ever know,

the One who can and will raise us up to walk on stormy seas.

Do you see what God is doing?

He is reshaping our concept of Himself

and how He relates to us

and how He loves.

He describes Himself as the One who comes to our aid,

the one who sits beside us,

and through His presence with us

equips us for the battle He has asked us to fight.

OK, now what I’ve just shared with you is the truth

of what really exists between the Christian and the Creator,

but even though it is the truth,

it may not be the reality of your experience.

And if it is not,

I can help you, at least a little bit,

to understand why

and to know what to do about it.

If the presence of Christ in your life

is not the great and glorious source of encouragement to your spirit and your soul

that God intends for it to be,

if it does not equip you to walk on stormy seas,

then it is quite possibly because you have forgotten

or perhaps not yet understood

what He has done for you

and how He views you.

You do realize, don’t you,

that there is no longer and never again will be

any cause for a sense of shame in His presence.

I was in a conversation with a close friend recently

in which we both shared with one another

how chronically disappointed we were with ourselves

in our ability to consistently live the walk with God we long for.

We are forever falling short of what we hope for,

what our spirits long for,

what we believe the truly pure life of faith should be.

The truth is that is the nature of life with God here and now, in these bodies,

in this evil-saturated world system.

But if we do not understand the truth of what our King has done

we can take those daily unfulfilled hopes of what we want to be

and expectations of what we should be

and clothe ourselves in shame,

believing that we must still stand before our God soiled,

stained,

just a shadow of what He wanted us to be.

And it’s all lies - lies from the pit of hell.

Because, you see, there really is (Rom_8:1) ... now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...

and no basis for shame ever again

because He has taken it all,

and,(Col_2:14) having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

And He as done it for just one reason,

because He has loved us with an everlasting love.

If we find no encouragement in the presence of Christ

then we have failed to understand who He is

and what He has done

and why He delights in our union with Him.

And then Paul goes on to say,

if there is any consolation of love.

And here he is talking with us

not about the effect Christ has in His presence with us,

but rather about the effect we can have

in our relationships with one another.

He’s talking about what happens inside us

when we discover that another person has cared enough about us

to go beyond our facade,

to listen carefully to us,

and then to accept us and loves us

right where we’re at -

with all our confusion

and hurt

and irritating habits.

In the conversation with my friend that I just mentioned,

I found it fascinating that, when I shared with him my disappointment in myself

he looked at me and said, “You’re crazy!”,

and in different words

I expressed the same response to him.

We could both so clearly see the reality of Jesus Christ in the other person,

and yet could see it only foggy at best in ourselves.

And that is such a powerful and crucial part of the love relationships

our God creates for us with one another within His family -

relationships in which we can tell one another the truth that we cannot tell ourselves,

truth that feeds our spirits and silences the lies.

And then Paul says,...If there is any fellowship of the Spirit...

Here Paul is talking about that remarkable sense of belonging

that only God’s Spirit

can create between two people.

It has nothing to do with

shared culture

or shared ideas

or similar economic base

the same ethnic heritage.

It is what happens when we see the same Lord we are clinging to in our own life

in another person.

It’s what happens when we suddenly realize

that they really understand -

they understand what it means to be loved by God,

what it means to know Him,

and to feed from His Spirit,

and to have our hearts overflowing with gratitude to Him.

It’s what happens when we discover

that the most important thing in our life

is also the most important thing in their life.

To call it “fellowship of the Spirit” doesn’t really seem to do it justice

because what happens when it happens

is the creation of a mutual trust

and a security with one another

that nothing else in human experience can duplicate.

It is a bond of unity

that comes from seeing that the person you’re relating to

really KNOWS,

and because they know

it changes everything.

And then Paul says, If there is any affection...

The word actually means “inward parts”.

Paul is talking about that depth

and quality of relationship

that gets a hold of us

way down deep inside,

that touches us at the feeling level.

It is what happens

when that true fellowship of the Spirit

is created by God between two Christians or within a group of Christians.

And then he says, If there is any compassion...

Do you know what compassion is?

Compassion is the ability to feel another person’s pain,

to enter into their pain

in a way that gives you a longing to reach out and help,

and heal.

And most often it is the result of our going through pain ourselves in the hands of our God.

Pain apart from the working of God in our life

will make us angry,

and bitter,

and hard.

It causes us to build a protective shield around ourselves

to make certain we don’t get hurt again.

But when we go through pain with our Lord,

not blaming Him for it, but rather sharing it with Him,

it creates within us tremendous strength,

strength that equips us to see and enter into the pain of others

in a way that can bring tremendous healing

both to ourselves and to the other person.

That’s where compassion comes from,

and why it is such a powerful force for good in our lives

and in the lives of others.

This is the true business of being the church.

This is what we are called to fight for

in our relationship with one another.

And then Paul goes on to explain to us

how we do it -

the choices we can make

that will bring this kind of church body

into living reality.

He says, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

And here once again

the life of Christ within us

collides with the world of religion.

The world of religion is constructed upon success through performance -

gaining prominence and security and often power

through what we have done.

See how good I am...

see how much I’ve done...

see what I fine person I am.

It’s all about the elevation of ourselves.

But the true life of Christ is exactly the opposite.

It’s all about the elevation first of all of our Lord -

not, “see how good I am”, but see how good He is,

not “see how much I have done”, but rather see how much He has done for me.

And then it is about the elevation and honoring

of those around us.

Paul targets the two great enemies of a truly healthy life within the family of God -

selfishness and empty conceit.

Selfishness, of course, is wanting it my way,

and empty conceit is wanting the prominence, the glory, the praise.

And do you know something fascinating

that never ceases to amaze me about God’s dealings with His people?

When we choose to give up our pursuit of the glory, and the prominence, and the honor,

our Lord delights in giving it back to us.

He has His own amazing ways

of bringing honor to His children,

but when He does it

the result within us is not a sense of pride

but rather a sense of profound gratitude to our God

for what He has chosen to do in and through us.

And something else I like very much about Paul’s instructions to us here,

calling us to ...with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others...

is the tremendous hope it gives me

because it is my God assuring me

that these really are choices I can make.

Under the leadership of His Spirit

I can learn how to pry my eyes off of myself

and begin to see the needs, and the hurt, and the pain, and the life of God

in the person next to me.

And when that happens

most of the time what I discover

is that what the people around us need most desperately

is not money,

it’s not material help,

what they need is encouragement,

or hope,

or affirmation,

or kindness,

or forgiveness,

or friendship,

or the assurance that you love them.

Those are the things that bring healing,

the things the allow us to reflect the image of our King,

and the things that make the family of God a truly safe place to be.