05.06.06
Philippians 2(4)
The Fight for Unity
Philippians 2:3-4
If there is one kind of TV programme my wife absolutely hates, it is a program about snakes and other creepy-crawlies. But for some strange reason, I quite enjoy these programmes. The last one I saw was this crazy nature photographer who wanted to take pictures of a group of Western Diamond Back rattlesnakes during their hibernation. So what he did was to crawl down a long burrow – the burrow itself was only 15 inches or so wide and high – right to the very bottom where there were gathered around 30 rattlesnakes coiled around each other to keep themselves warm during the relatively cold desert winter months. Here were these ultra-poisonous snakes coiled around each other in a box sized space just so that they could survive the cold temperatures outside. Don’t take this the wrong way, but when I saw all these snakes together, it made me think of what Christian fellowship is like. Here we are, Christians coiled together in the bonds of fellowship, keeping each other warm against the spiritual coldness of the world outside – but all the time each of us has fangs with which we can hurt each other – each of us, as we draw closer to each other, is liable at times to bite.
That was what was happening in 1st Century AD Philippi – the congregation to which Paul was here writing. Christians were in fellowship with each other because external persecution was drawing near, but the closer the Christians grew to each other, the more liable they were to bite each other. And so, this letter of Philippians was written by Paul to tell the Philippians to stop biting each other and start keeping each other warm – to stop rubbing each other up the wrong way and start living in unity, as Christians should. Now here, in 2:3, 4 Paul is telling the Christians that if they would live in unity with each other, there are certain tendencies among them that they must fight against, and certain qualities which they should encourage.
[A] Fight Against!
The law of entropy states that any structure will tend towards more disorder with time – that is, that the longer you leave something, the more disordered it will become. There is such a thing as a law of spiritual entropy which states that Christians will tend towards disunity with each other with time – that is, the longer you leave Christians together, without doing any work, the more disunited they will become from each other. The only way to break the cycle of spiritual entropy is to work against the disunity. So what are these aspects which tend towards spiritual disunity and disorder?
1. Rivalry – this is a word which can mean selfish ambition, factions or rivalry. It was used initially to talk of those who spun wool – those who would spin two twines of wool together into one. As time went on, it began to be used in the sphere of politics to talk of those who electioneer for office and aren’t too scrupulous about the means they use to get ahead. They are spin doctors full of empty promises who will stop at nothing to get the office they so desire. If that means telling a few lies, they don’t mind. Behind the world of secular politics, I would suggest to you that there is more politicking goes on in the Church than in any other institution. Congregations end up as factions at odds with themselves, with each faction stopping at nothing to get what they want. And Paul tells us that we must fight against factions.
We know that there were factions in the Church in Philippi – it was out of a spirit of faction that some preached against Paul during his internment in prison (Phil. 1:17). In other places Paul tells us that factions and rivalry is the exact opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:20). James tells us that rivalry and factions are the work of the devil (James 3:14-16). So let’s be careful about seeing each other as rivals, fighting with each to be top dog; rather, let’s see each other as brothers in Christ.
2. Empty-Glory – the word used here is a composite noun made up of two words – the first, kenoj, meaning empty or vain; the second doca, meaning glory – so literally it means empty or vain-glory. It is basically a cheap desire to boast – to put ourselves forward as being special and worthy of praise. Now you can imagine what would happen if every person in a congregation acted like this, and each one stepping on the heads of others to get to where they want to go – we’d all end up with footmarks on the top of our heads and none of us would be happy. Indeed, Paul talks in Galatians 5:26 about how empty-glory is diametrically opposed to walking in the Spirit. We cannot keep in step with the Spirit whilst at the same time stepping on each other. Remember, we are members of the church of Jesus Christ – if everybody is trying to get to the top of the pile then where does Jesus fit in? It’s certainly not the church of the humble carpenter from Nazareth; the self-emptying Son of God. And so, fight against empty glory by seeing ourselves for who we are and seeing Christ for who He is. Similarly, let’s be careful about wallowing in the praise of other people – doing things only so other people will see us doing them and give us glory. St. Chrysostom wrote “when we love the praise of men … we are slaves to the honour which is paid by the many, for it is not possible for a man to be the slave of praise, and also a true servant of God.”
3. Self-Exaltation – in the second part of vs. 3 Paul talks about reckoning others more excellent than yourselves. By inference, in Philippi what was happening is that everyone was thinking of themselves as the best and most excellent. And because they only thought of themselves and not of other people, they naturally tried to propel themselves forward into the limelight – they wanted others to see them as being special, because that is what they thought about themselves. In a fellowship where everyone wants everyone else to look at them with admiring eyes, no-one is left who will look at Christ with admiring eyes. In a congregation where everyone says, ‘look at me and how wonderful I am’, nobody looks at Christ and how wonderful He is.
One of the secrets of staying sane in the ministry is encapsulated in this very idea. As most of you will know, ministry, in whatever sphere, attracts more than its fair share of detractors – ministers are up there to be shot at and they make good targets. They are always getting told of their faults and weaknesses. And it’s easy to get offended when someone tells us that we aren’t very good, or that we don’t match up to what they think a minister should be. But one thing which stops us from being absolutely destroyed is to tell ourselves these things before anyone else tells them to us. The man who knows he is a poor preacher will be offended, but not crushed, when someone comes along and tells them how poor a preacher they are. By contrast, the man who thinks he is a good preacher will be absolutely crushed if someone says that to him. Coming from one of the newest ministers in the church what I am saying must sound twee, but it seems to me that the secret to longevity and resilience in the ministry is the knowledge people will never tell you that you are worse than you know yourself to be. The man or woman who exalts themselves and considers themselves best is heading for a fall – fight against any tendencies you detect within to exalt yourself.
4. Self-Gratification – in vs. 4 Paul talks of not merely looking out for your own interests but also for the interests of others. Again, by inference, it would seem that in Philippi all that people were concerned about were their own interests – they weren’t concerned about each other as much as they were about themselves; they weren’t self-less, but self-seeking. What happens in a church where everyone is self-seeking? Answer: chaos! It’s the story of ten in the bed and the little one said, roll over – at the end of the day everyone has fallen out of bed and no-one sleeps at all. Of necessity, the interests of some people contradict those of others – what happens in a self-seeking, self-gratifying church? Survival of the fittest, of the strongest. And what about the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ – what about those things He wants? If we are all busy trying to gratify ourselves, who is left to do what Jesus wants?
So, if we are to live together in harmony with each other, we are to actively fight against these: rivalry, empty-glory, self-exaltation and self-gratification.
[B] Fight For!
Just as we actively fight against disunity, so we are to fight actively for unity. So, what are the things for which we must actively fight?
1. Humility of Mind – the primary place where unity is won or lost is in the mind – that’s the chief battle ground between disunity and unity. And here Paul tells us to cultivate what he calls, ‘lowliness of mind’. The NIV translates the verb simply as humility, but the word also includes the Greek word for mind – it means humility or lowliness of mind. Paul is here saying that every decision we make, every time we judge other Christians, it is to be done ‘in humility of mind’ – in other words, not out of rivalry or empty-glory. The difference may just seem a matter of words, but in fact, the difference is the whole world. Rivalry and empty-glory refer to our tendencies to seek our own advancement at the expense of others. Humility of mind refers to our responsibility to seek the advancement of others at our own expense. In other words, selfish ambition is about me, me, me; humility is about you, you, you.
The word for ‘humility of mind’ that Paul uses here is very uncommon – it is only used a few times in the New Testament and mostly by Paul. One is here, in the context of unity; another is in Ephesians 4:2 in the context of unity where Paul says, “walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility of mind and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” The other major one is in Colossians 3:12 again in the context of Christian unity. Get the message – in order to achieve unity with each other, we must cultivate humility within our thinking, our cognitive processes. If we lose the battle for the mind, if we don’t fight against our pride and selfish ambition, then de facto, our unity as a fellowship is lost.
2. Reckoning of Others – there are four Greek verbs which can be translated by the English word ‘count’. 2 of these refer to beliefs which rest upon feelings – in other words, ‘I feel this, so I reckon that’. The other 2 refer to beliefs which rest upon facts – in other words, ‘I know this, so I reckon that’. Our verb here is of the latter variety, and it is the more forcible thinking process of the two. And so, what Paul is here talking about is a careful, deliberate reckoning of others as more excellent than ourselves, and that based not upon how we feel, but upon what we know. And what do we know? Well, we know ourselves – we know the darkness of our own hearts – to go back to the snake imagery, we know how sharp our fangs are and how poisonous our venom is. But we do not know other people – we think we know what their hearts look like, but we don’t – all we can judge is the outward appearance, only God can judge their hearts. Now what will be the consequences of reckoning others of more excellence and more significance than we?
Firstly, it will mean that we will be slow to pronounce judgement upon them. Knowing the state of our own hearts, it will feel like the pot calling the kettle black to pronounce judgement on another Christian. The problem in Philippi was that everyone was second guessing the motives of every one else, and so there was suspicion and politicking. And so often, this can be the problem of every Christian church, ours included. If only we would follow the wise counsel of Matthew Henry, “We must be severe upon our own faults and charitable in our judgements of others, be quick in observing our own defect and infirmities, but ready to overlook and make favourable allowances for the defects of others.”
Secondly, it will keep us from the Diotrophes syndrome – you know Diotrophes of 3 John who ‘loved to be first’ – knowing our own poverty of spirit and lacklustre discipleship will keep us from continually pushing ourselves forward at the expense of others. There will be no prima donnas, no superstars as a letter in this month’s Monthly Record calls them, in the church – only fellow disciples and fellow workers. Lastly, it will provide room for the Spirit of the Living Lord Jesus to work. If we are full of ourselves then there is no room for the Spirit, but an individual and church which is not full of itself leaves room for the Spirit of God to work in power to show us all who is truly the most excellent one of all – the Lord Jesus Christ!
3. Looking out for Each Other – the word used for ‘looking’ here is not the normal Greek word used for ‘looking’ – rather, it is the word skopountej – which means ‘pay attention to’. It’s a word requiring activity and purpose – it means to closely and thoughtfully scrutinize something. In Romans 16:17 Paul warns the Roman Christians to watch out for, to pay attention, for those who may cause divisions among them. Again, in Galatians 6:1 he warns those who are restoring spiritually backslidden Christians to pay attention, to closely watch themselves lest they also fall. So what Paul is saying in Philippians 2:4 is that we must look out carefully not just for our own interests, but more importantly for the interests of other people – we must carefully and thoughtfully scrutinize what their interests are and then set ourselves to putting their interests before our own. One commentator writes, “Humility prompts me to serve others, assigning my interests a lower priority than their needs.” But you will say, does that not mean that other people will use me as a mat on which to wipe their feet? Whilst I’m saying that we should neither completely forget our own interests, nor should we pander to things people think they need but don’t really, there is the precedent of the Lord Jesus Christ – whom people mocked and spat on and used as a mat. He went deep down in order to save us – He looked to our interests and served us at His own expense. Can we then do any less for our Christian brothers and sisters?
How do hibernating rattlesnakes keep themselves from biting each other? By fighting against anything which would cause them to bite, and by fighting for anything which keeps the whole community warm through the cold winter months. How can we Christians here live together in warmth and intimacy of fellowship – Paul answers: by fighting against rivalry, empty glory, self-exaltation and self-gratification, and by fighting for humility of mind, consideration of others and the interests of others. Scottish Presbyterians have a reputation for fighting – but as long as we are fighting for and against these things, it’s a reputation I don’t mind. I close with this question: are you still fighting? AMEN