[0:00] Good evening everyone.
[0:21] Again it's a great pleasure to be here with you and share the word of God. I would like to focus this evening or this night on Philippians chapter 2 from verse 1 to 11.
[0:34] And this is about the person and the work of Christ as the best foundation and example for our lives.
[0:45] The person and work of Christ as the best foundation and example for our lives. So if there's any encouragement in Christ, Philippians 2 verse 1, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy.
[1:11] How? By being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
[1:26] So the person and work of Christ as the best foundation for our lives, an example for our lives. People live according to a sure foundation and purpose. In fact, consciously or sometimes not so much.
[1:44] We realize that ideas or actions have some basis, a foundation. In the same way we walk towards a certain purpose. So there's a foundation and a purpose in every one of us. Importantly, the foundation can be strong or weak. The rock or the sand.
[2:14] There is not a middle option. So in short, the purpose may or may not be centered on the chief and of man. And if I ask you, what's the chief and of man? What should we reply?
[2:35] To glorify God and, this is the opportunity to participate all together, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Do you see that connection? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
[2:56] So the purpose of your life, our lives, could be centered or not on that, in the glory of God. So the purpose of some people could be just accumulate wealth or just to have degrees or as statues or simply to go around in a vicious circle where the purpose of life seems to be sadly to have no purpose. What's your purpose? As Christians people, single Christian people, as married Christian people, as Christians who are suffering right now or who are celebrating something, what's the purpose of all this and what's the foundation in every circumstance?
[3:44] So what's the foundation and purpose of every Christian? What's the Christian life about? Let me summarize it according to what we read in Philippians 2.
[3:56] The life of the Christian is a life that because it is united with Christ, imitates Christ to the glory of Christ. Again, the life of the Christian is a life that because it is united with Christ, imitates Christ for the glory of Christ. But who is Christ?
[4:31] What do the others say about Christ? But the thing is you, for you this night, who is Christ?
[4:47] Who is Christ? The answer is key to your life here on earth and in eternity.
[4:57] In the morning I preach about the Christian desire to see Christ, the beauty of Christ, the glory of Christ. But who is this Christ? Who is Christ? And how should we live as Christians who desire to see Christ in heaven? How should we live in a practical way as Christians who have communion with Christ here on earth? As we read in chapter 1 of Philippians from verse 27 to 30, Paul says, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. We already said in the morning that the gospel is not about us, it's not about our doing, but it's about the person and glory of Christ, about our Triune God.
[6:08] And the fruit of the gospel is this, to live a manner of life worthy of the gospel. So here Paul calls to live according to the gospel as a manner of life worthy of the gospel.
[6:26] But how this is explained in the practical life of the church? What should be the conduct, the conduct, the way of life of someone who calls himself a Christian? And at the same time, what's the best foundation for this person who calls himself Christian?
[6:51] For this, I would like to only talk about two points, not four, as in the morning. So the first one is the mind and work of every Christian. The mind and work of every Christian.
[7:08] And the second point is the mind and work of Christ. So the first point, the mind and work of every Christian. So Paul begins this chapter by speaking in a conditional way to see the fruit of that reality. That is, if something is real in your life, then this is the fruit of that reality.
[7:43] So Paul speaks of four realities, sorry, in the life of the Christian as the fruit of the gospel. So again, in chapter 127, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
[7:59] So in the first verses of chapter 2, Paul describes this manner of life, this life who lives worthy in a practical way. So it is like, therefore or so, if we live in this worthy manner, reflected in four things, then according to the verse 2, an imperative here, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. So think about this.
[8:46] Paul is rejoicing according to chapter 1, that is, that Christ is preached and that is his joy. But at the same time, he asks for this, complete my joy, O Church of Christ. So how is the joy of Paul, who is a prisoner for the cause of Christ, complete? How is the joy of Christians, completed by other Christians? How is the joy of your brother and sister, who is in this congregation today, completed? How is that? That's why we need each other, to each other. So how? Complete my joy that that's Paul's requirement here. How? By experiencing these four realities, encouragement in Christ, as we read, any comfort from love, any participation or fellowship in the
[9:56] Spirit, any affection and sympathy. These realities are the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of every believer, to be shared with other believers. So from God to your heart, to be directed to the heart of anyone who is next to you in this congregation. That's the idea. This speaks about the intimate fellowship among those who are part of the Church. By being a source of comfort, we receive comfort from God and then give comfort in Christ to the person who is next to you, to the house who is next to you, to the town who is next to you. And at the same time, we receive comfort from others. Freely you have received and freely we must give. It is something reciprocal. We receive and give encouragement to then receive and continue giving this comfort. That's the idea here when Paul said encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love. It is an objective comfort that comes to your heart and because comes from God, then you give this comfort to your family, to your friends and even to your enemies. We freely receive and we freely by grace we give. And this is done and this is important to highlight because in our strength, this is absolutely impossible. But this, let me say this in this way, this is a real reality because this is done in the participation or fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This God himself,
[12:25] God the Holy Spirit. This sharing, this consolation and encouragement, this comfort and encouragement in Christ is done in the fellowship or participation of the Holy Spirit. This is how it is done in a real genuine way. It is not a mere head knowledge. Oh yeah, we have to share this comfort but it's something real, a reality from within, from the very deep of your heart. This is important in the Christian life because that's why Paul speaks of any affection and sympathy. There must be, this is an imperative here, complete my joy, oh Church of Christ, by having this, by having this affection and sympathy and affection, something that you know and we must know in our heads. But then this information must go down from our heads to our hearts to then move our hands and feet.
[13:47] The the affections of the Christian life come from the, from the depths. We are told that we, we should not say the Greek or Hebrew word when we are preaching and I'm not going to do that but I'm going to say the Latin word for this in Philippians. It is visera, the the the the the vowels, from the very deep we have to love our brothers, from the viseras, from within, from your heart. So this is something genuine. We're calledness and hypocrisy are exclude here in the Christian life. The best context to have these affections for our brothers and sisters, it is when we think that everything is cold and yes outside could be cold but here within the church we share this war affection.
[15:02] To see how we love between each other among us there's an affection, a sympathy. Therefore these affections are in the heart of the Christian because there's a deep awareness and sympathy for others. There's an interest in others.
[15:27] It is more than just asking hey how you're doing. There's an intention here, a sympathy and not just saying or not just waiting for for for the other that no it is there there must be an intention in you to go and have this fellowship with the person who is next to you with every member of this church.
[16:00] When we commit our votes when a baby's baptized in a covenantal way we commit ourselves to pray for this baby and not only to pray for this baby but to to have this fellowship within the church community and not not only with the baby but with the family with the families here. It is important for the life of the church to have this encouragement comfort participation affection and sympathy.
[16:31] Now and it's important to consider that all these realities are rooted in the work of the Triune God Christ when he says encouragement in Christ then any comfort from love remember the love of God and then any participation in the spirit. So Paul here he's being Trinitarian just saying all this is rooted in our Triune God. This complete my joy as I said this is an imperative this is not an advice this is an imperative church I am preaching it so please complete my joy how one of the things that Paul commands is repeated twice in verse two and that is being of the same mind something that is something that Paul already said at the end of chapter one being of the same mind the meaning of this refers to the of the same mind this is not only about the the intellect or the understanding the Spanish version said it's like teniendo mismo sentir that is like having the same like a feeling so it's not only a mere knowledge head knowledge sorry or just an emotionalistic in a emotionalistic sense no this is at this position of the whole of the whole of the man it's an action of this disposing our mind in a certain way when our whole being is involved in that disposition that's the idea of having the same mind it is not about just looking at the birds in the sky and it you're you're focusing something that's the idea here that's the idea of having the same mind then Paul says having the same love being in full chord the same disposition or mind and the same love sometimes as Christian we have different visions of what what it means to love and how this translates into reality but here Paul talks about having the same love the love of Christ the same affection again the same interest and to have and for that if you have an interest in something you you you like that thing so do you like to have fellowship with your brothers and sisters do you like to have communion with God with Christ and we can say amen yes of course that I
[19:47] I do but what about having fellowship an intimate and beauty fellowship with those who are within the church to then go to those who are outside of the church so having the same love here he talks about being intentional according to this disposition in disposing our minds to have the same love and being in full accord in the original this means one soul one soul are we one if we have the same Lord if we have the same Savior do we experience the beauty of being one one do we experience the beauty of evaluating the diversity in unity that we have as community so Paul speaks of a healthy unity where there's a coherence between what we confess and live in order to continue disposing our minds and affection affections in something more specific now so from general now Paul speaks of an essential and practical aspect of the Christian life yes being or having the same mind but how Paul in a practical way that that sounds great but in a practical way how Paul and this is that everything we do must be done in humility humility Paul is clear on this whatever we learn or we teach or we serve this should not be done out of a strive or bane glory we cannot serve for selfish selfish ambitions or the recognition of men no everything must be done in humility and this is something that only the Holy Spirit produces in us humility is the virtue that beautifies the Christian confession and life because it makes known the glory of the one for whom we live if we serve or if we teach or if we we are learning something we are reflecting Christ in everything humility is to live consciously for the glory of God who is before behind above below and within us within you before the the presence of God the reformers use you have this
[23:04] Latin phrase cut and deal before the face of God can you imagine this no no no please not not imagine this but the very face of God he's looking at upon us our hearts our intentions our desires if we are doing or not doing according what he calls to do everything must be done in humility and that is a sweet combination of fear and joy fear of the Lord and the joy of the Lord humility is a recognition of who we are that is creatures that need redemption and this is and this redemption does not come from us but from God this leaders to consciously consider others again it is not about us it's about Christ and Christ has a precious bride the church so think about this to consider others to consider the person next to you because if or if she has confessed Christ as Lord that person is not your enemy look around you that person is not your enemy but your brother or your sister humility lead us to understand that the closest enemy that we have it is not in the person next to you but in our hearts and that is the sinfulness of pride may the Lord have mercy upon us to confess our pride to repent of living in this way to then love Christ and serve and love the church to have this sympathy to have this affection to have all this in participation in fellowship of the Holy Spirit so to live in unity having the same feeling the same affection for that we must be transformed by the spirit of
[25:38] God by the spirit of Christ and how we can only live the richness and depth of the Christian life when the Holy Spirit shows us more and more about the glory of Christ every day in every circumstance but I don't want to serve the church I don't want to serve my brother I don't want to come to the prayer meeting maybe or a Bible study or do something or or even simple things but when the Holy Spirit shows us the beauty of Christ and what the Lord is continually working in our hearts what can we do but to worship God and to serve our brothers so that's why Paul calls the church to have the same mind or disposition that was in Christ Jesus so let me finish with the second point in order that you continue with the second point today tomorrow and every single day to have the mind of Christ I want to emphasize this previous point what I already said we can only live as worthy of the gospel when we are more aware in the depths of every single cells of our bodies brain and heart of our being about the glory of Christ and about our union with him and if we are united with Christ we also we are united with other Christians verse five have this mind among yourselves yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus have this mind again an imperative here church of Christ here Paul is saying have this mind have this sympathy have this humility already all this is in Christ to grow in the Christian life we must grow in our knowledge of Christ and this involves our whole being mind affections and will your mind maybe now understands more about the person of Christ but at the same time your affections are kind of inflamed and your will embraces the one who is the most beautiful beautiful among the sons of men but who is this Christ according to verse five to eleven in chapter two so verses five to eleven talk about the person and work of Christ verse five have this mind among yourself which is yours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God I think to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant from verse six to eight Paul tells us about Christ's state of humiliation while from verse nine to eleven we see the state of exaltation of Christ have you ever thought before about these two states of Christ of humiliation and exaltation if not let me encourage you to meditate upon this in order to see the beauty of your savior but who is this one who experienced humiliation and exaltation verse six form of God Jesus Christ our savior he is God the second person of the
[30:00] Trinity took a form of a servant he emptied himself but the incarnation was not a subtraction of the of his divine attributes or ceasing to be God not but the Almighty God without ceasing to be God he took a human nature the one who is in the form of God takes a form of a servant can you think about this the one who sustains the universe lies in a manger with Mary and Joseph the one who sustained the entire universe had not place to lay his head the king of creation got himself took a human nature nature a form of servant to save our souls to save our lives to redeem creation to save peoples to save cultures to save towns nations people from every tribe tongue and nation and being found in a human in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death
[31:27] Mark johnson pastor per se and pastor says there has never been a greater humiliation of a person than that of Jesus listen to this no no one has ever descended so low because no one has ever come from so high in every stage of his life on earth from his birth to his death Christ was humiliated and this was not a simple death but death on the cross from a Roman or Jewish perspective this was the worst death but in biblical terms it means the experience of the wrath and the curse of God both in body and soul the hell that we deserve the eternal wrath of God that you and I deserve Christ suffered in Orbea health on the cross the one who is Christ holy the one and please church think about this the one who is the the blessed one became sin and curse for us what we read in Isaiah 53 that we saw no beauty on him no beauty in the one who is the beauty itself as we saw this morning the one who is more infinitely more beautiful than the whole and the whole universe and the landscape of Scotland and every place in this planet that person we saw no beauty in him because he took our sins he took our ugly pride he took our selfishness not in order to be playing with sin but to love him to have fellowship with him and also to have fellowship with the one who is next to you that we that we may go and preach the gospel and make the disciples to all the nations because Christ is the Lord but God God the one who is the life was dying on the cross for us Christ died but God risen Christ from the grave now Christ executed his offices in his state of exaltation in heaven and if you ask hey what about those offices of Christ you can ask Thomas or the elders that you may learn about Christ's offices and he's our high priest he's the very best prophet and he's the king of kings he's our king so our king therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name what is the the meaning of this name Jesus that is Yahweh saves the God of the covenant the God who dwells among his people the God that doesn't change we can change we can be unfaithful but our God is faithful to himself now because God he's faithful to himself he's faithful to you even when we are unfaithful people but not to be living in an unfaithfulness in life but to be faithful to our calling Jesus is the Lord the faithful covenantal God is the Lord not Caesar but Christ not your sins not this society not any man or woman or no you have one Lord and that is the only true living God Jesus Christ who at the same time he's a judge of the universe but at the same time he's your very best friend and here and he is here today this evening among us to restore the joy of salvation to return to our first love and when we have our hearts full of love what can we do but just share this love to others again here in the church again here in this community of carlo way in this beautiful island of lures and harris and here in a scotland yes we pray for a revival and we have we have to pray for that but in the meantime prepare your hearts to love God and serve others what should be our attitude but to respond in worship and service to worship and serve God in order to serve our brothers and sisters in humility and love so church let us deepen our knowledge of Christ to deepen our love and service to the church there there's so much to do in carlo way in scotland in Chile but in the meantime while we see our weakness let us contemplate and behold how in this very second or high priest is praying for us in order to be one Christ is praying for you how should we respond to Christ's prayer so that we may be one and have the same feeling and mind let us not see the numbers but the glory of the one who sustained his church see how the father and the son send their spirit to love christ more for the glory of the father and the edification of the church it is time to truly love christ the one who with all his being loved us and loves us in order to glorify god and love and serve his church let's pray together for father in heaven again we pray and we ask for your holy spirit father we pray that in this very moment in this very evening that that we may have this sense of your presence in us among us but you are here that this is your day that you invite us to rest in you and while we rest in your bosom you teach us how to glorify your name and how to love others come holy spirit come holy spirit to love christ and to love his bride come to come to restore your bride come to restore all lives or families come oh lord to restore our communion with you or fellowship with you restore the joy of my salvation restore the fellowship with my brother and sister restore the passion of preaching christ to everyone give us passion for for your glory and for those who need who needs to know you give us passion for your people give us passion for this land father god we thank you that you are the the head and king and pastor of the church of this church in Jesus name we pray amen amen