The Secret of Christian Unity | Philippians 2:5–11 | Mike Kendall

It's great to see you. Thanks for having me.

Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us. Our Father

in heaven, we pray that through your word, by

your spirit, you would help us now to see the

Lord Jesus more clearly. To love him more dearly.

and to follow him more nearly. Help us, we pray,

for Jesus' sake. Amen. What is the secret of

unity? Take an ordinary local church, take the

church that you belong to, take the church that

I... I belong to and serve an ordinary church

made up of all sorts of different people, different

ages, stages, different backgrounds and cultures,

different outlooks and interests. Be so easy,

wouldn't it, for those differences to get in

the way. So easy in a church like that, different

people for their relationships to break down.

And what if an ordinary local church like that,

with all its differences, what if a church like

that comes under pressure too from outside? What

if people take issue with what's being preached?

What if stories start to appear about it online?

How intolerant, how unloving the church is. What

if... The members, what if you and me, we start

to face opposition from our family, from our

friends, our acquaintances? What then? How does

an ordinary local church like that, with all

its differences, with all that pressure, how

does it stand firm? How does it strive together

for the faith of the gospel? What is the secret

of unity? That is the issue for us here in Philippians

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. Paul says the secret of unity is to

share the same mindset, the same attitude, a

mindset of humble, selfless love. Just listen

to what Paul says. Chapter 2 verse 1, he says,

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, Then make my

joy complete by being like -minded, having the

same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves,

not looking to your own interests, but each of

you to the interests of others. And Paul then

gives us the ultimate example. of that mindset.

Verse 5, in your relationships with one another,

have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. And in

the verses that follow, he paints the most stunning

portrait of the mindset of Christ Jesus. And

the point is really simple. Paul says, look at

Jesus. And adopt the same mindset. That's the

secret of unity. Look at Jesus. And adopt the

same mindset. This section is at the very heart

of the letter. But not just the letter. In many

ways, the very heart of the New Testament too.

One Christian writer puts it like this. He says,

this is one of the most beautiful and rich descriptions

of the person and work of Christ in the New Testament.

Let's have a look at that beautiful, that rich

description. There are two lessons for us. Let

me show you what they are. Here's the first one.

Look at Jesus and see how low he humbled himself.

Look at Jesus. See how low he humbled himself.

This is verses 6 to 8. The story of these verses

is the story of a journey. It's the story of

a journey from the very heights of heaven to

the very depths of death on a cross. It is a

shocking journey, an extraordinary journey. It's

full of wonder and mystery. Listen again to Paul.

Verse 5, in your relationships with one another,

have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being

in very nature God, did not consider equality

with God something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the

very nature of a servant, being made in human

likeness. is the eternal Son of God, equal with

the Father in every way, equal in honor, equal

in glory, equal in power, fully and truly God.

In the memorable words of the Nicene Creed, God

of God, light of light, very God of very God,

begotten, not made, being of one substance with

the Father, fully. equally truly God. And yet

Paul says he didn't exploit his status or his

position. He didn't use it to his own advantage

the way that I so often do, the way that I try

to use my status, my position to improve my lot,

or at least to get out of something that I think

might be beneath me. He never did that. Look

at verse 7. Rather, he made himself nothing by

taking the very nature of a servant, being made

in human likeness. You will know that Paul literally

says he emptied himself. He emptied himself.

And yet you will also know how easy it is to

get the wrong end of the stick with that. I love

Charles Wesley's hymn, And Can It Be? I love

the way it captures the wonder and the awe of

being a Christian. I love the way, have you noticed

that first verse? The way that every line finishes

with a question mark. As though you just can't

quite get your head around what the Lord Jesus

has done for you. And can it be that I should

gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died

he for me who caused his pain, for me who him

to death pursued. Could that really be true?

I love verse 1. Verse 3 always makes me really

uneasy. He left his father's throne above so

free, so infinite in his grace, emptied himself

of all but love. I don't know what he meant by

that. I don't know what was going through his

mind when he penned those words. But it sounds

like he is saying, in that journey down, Christ

gave up some or all of his godness. We know that's

not right, don't we? That the point is not that

he gives something up. The point, Paul says,

is he took something on. Look at the next line.

He took on the very nature of a servant. And

you will know too that that word servant is the

word slave. In other words, can you get your

mind around this? That the one who is truly,

fully, equally God with the Father, willingly

became a slave. No rights. No status. No privilege.

Isn't that remarkable? But notice something.

He doesn't do that despite being God. He does

that precisely because he is God. In other words,

he empties himself. He makes himself nothing.

He takes on the very nature of a servant because

that is what he's really like. That is his, if

I can use these words, that is his heart. In

the words of the song, this is our God, the servant

king. Let me ask you a question which I heard

somewhere else but found really helpful. It's

kind of stuck in my head. When Jesus grew up,

it is not in any way surprising, is it, that

he went around doing the most extraordinary things,

things that only God himself can do. He was,

after all, fully and truly God. But when you

look at his earthly life, what do you think is

the most God -like thing he did? Walk on water?

It's pretty impressive. Heal the sick. Raise

the dead. Calm the storm. Feed the hungry. What

is the most God -like thing he did? Paul says

that the most God -like thing he did was to make

himself nothing. To empty himself. Why? Because

that is who he is. That this is our God, the

servant king. Isn't that remarkable? That the

God of the Bible is a God who lacks nothing.

He needs nothing. He is gloriously and wonderfully

perfect in every way. And therefore, the God

of the Bible, he is not a God who takes. He's

a God who gives and who gives and who gives again.

He's a God who made himself nothing and humbled

himself and poured himself out. As the creed

says, for us and for our salvation, for me and

for you. And Paul says, look at him, look at

him and adopt the same mindset. Literally, Paul

says something like this. He says, have the mindset

which you have in Christ. Christian, he says,

you are united with him. You are united with

the one who made himself nothing for you. He

has taken hold of you and you now belong to him.

And if that is true, which it is, and if that

is his mindset, then how on earth can you and

I possibly act out of selfish ambition? Or vain

conceit. Look at Jesus. And adopt. The same mindset.

But there's more. At the first Christmas. He

came down from heaven. In the words of the apostle

John. The word became flesh. He became a real

human being. Without in any way ceasing. To be

fully and truly God. How did Gregory of Nazianzus

put it? He remained what he was and took up what

he was not. But he wasn't done there. At the

first Good Friday, he comes down further still

to the lowest point imaginable. Verse 8. And

being found in appearance as a man, he humbled

himself by becoming obedient to death, even death

on a cross. You and I, I think we tend to put

limits. We tend to put limits on how far we're

willing to go for the sake of others. How far

down we will stoop. We go so far, but then we

draw a line and we won't go any further. If it

gets too hard, if it's too costly, if it just

feels like too much, then that's it, we're done.

Look at Jesus. He never drew a line. The cross

shows the lengths that the Son is willing to

go to in loving obedience. To the Father, there

is no line there. Nothing is beneath him. Nothing

is too much for him. Not even, Paul says, death

on a cross. The cross has been described as the

cruelest, the most shameful and painful death

ever devised. As you know, victims were usually

stripped of their clothes. They were typically

nailed to the cross through their ankles and

their wrists. They would die from suffocation

when they could no longer lift themselves up

to breathe. And yet Jesus' suffering on the cross

is utterly unique, unlike the suffering of any

other. Because as he hangs on the cross, not

only does he endure that horrendous physical

pain, but worse, far worse than all of that,

he absorbs the awful, terrible, dreadful wrath

of God that you and I deserve for the way that

we have treated him. It's very appropriate that

as we began earlier, we had those words of Isaiah

53. Because that surely is what is in the background

as Paul paints this portrait of the Lord Jesus

here. Isaiah speaks of a servant. A servant who

stoops down and down and down. A servant who

is pierced for our transgressions. A servant

who is crushed for our iniquities. And the punishment

that brought us peace was laid on him. And by

his wounds we are healed. And Paul says, look

at Jesus. Nothing was beneath him. Even the lowest

position was not too low for him. Someone has

put it like this. He was not too proud to wear

our skin or bear our sin. And Paul says, look

at him. Look at Jesus. See how low he humbled

himself. And adopt the same mindset. But what

does that mean, do you think, for you and me?

It certainly means being willing to give up our

position, our rights, our privilege for the sake

of others. Of course it does. It means being

willing to pour out everything we have, our home,

our stuff, our money, our time, our effort, our

energy in humble, selfless love for others. It

means being willing to lose out. to suffer, to

bear shame and die so that others can gain and

flourish and live. But what does it really mean?

The cricketer and missionary C .T. Studd famously

said, I'm sure you know these words. If Jesus

Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice

can be too great for me to make for him. The

problem is all too often we, I, grumble and complain

about even the smallest sacrifice. Let me give

you an example. Try this on for size. How do

you respond when people interrupt you? You have

your day planned out. You know what you want

to do. You know what you need to get done. And

then you get a knock on the door or you get a

phone call or a message. And someone needs your

help. In his book, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

talks about the ministry of... helpfulness. He

describes it like this. He says, this means initially

simple assistance in trifling external matters.

There is a multitude of these whenever people

live together. That's true, isn't it? There are

always demands on your time and not all of them

feel very important, let's be honest. How do

you respond when someone interrupts you when

they want your help and it feels like something

really small and really unimportant? What do

you do? He goes on, nobody is too good for the

meanest service. One who worries about the loss

of time that such petty outward acts of helpfulness

entail. is usually taking the importance of his

own career too solemnly. We must be ready to

allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God

will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling

our plans by sending us people with claims and

petitions. And then he presses it home like this.

It is a strange fact. That Christians and even

ministers frequently consider their work so important

and urgent that they will allow nothing to disturb

them. They think they are doing God's service

in this, but actually they're disdaining God's

crooked yet straight path. I'm sure that raises

questions for you, it does for me. You may want

to discuss those later. But is he not right in

what he says? It is so easy for the Christian

worker to think that their work is too important

to be disturbed. Paul says, look at Jesus and

adopt the same mindset. Can you and I really

look at him? And then grumble and complain when

somebody asks for our help. Even in small, trifling

little things. Firstly, look at Jesus and see

how low he humbled himself. Secondly, we'll be

briefer, look at Jesus. And see how high God

exalted him. Look at Jesus. See how high God

exalted him. This is verses 9 to 11. If verses

6 to 8 are about the example of God the Son,

then verses 9 to 11 are about the response of

God the Father. Have a look. Therefore God exalted

him to the highest place and gave him the name

that is above every name. that at the name of

Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on

earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge

that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God

the Father. Because the Son humbled himself to

the very lowest place, it was fitting and right

for the Father to exalt him then to the very

highest place. After dying on the cross, the

Father raised him from the dead and exalted him

to his right hand in heaven. He gave him the

name that is above every name. Take it that that's

the name of Lord. And one day this same Lord

Jesus will come again to judge the living and

the dead, to judge me, to judge you. And on that

day, everyone who has ever lived We'll bow before

him. And we will acknowledge that the one who

poured himself out in humble, selfless love is

Lord and God. And some of us will do that willingly

and gladly. We will sing, this is the God that

we love. And others will do this in great shame

and fear. Because this is the God they reject.

And Paul says, look at Jesus and see how high

God exalted him. How does that help us to live

lives of humble, selfless love? I think it helps

in two ways. Let me finish with these. Here's

the first. Serving others. Serving others often

feels like wading through treacle. It can feel

more like a burden than a joy. And if we're not

careful, we end up feeling resentful. But here's

the thing, as we serve others in humble, selfless

love, we can be absolutely sure that God loves

and rewards. That attitude. God sees it. He loves

it. He will reward it. Do you remember what the

Lord Jesus said? He said, for those who exalt

themselves, what will happen? They will be humbled.

Everyone who humbles themselves will be exalted.

The point is, those who lower themselves, who

go down and down and down to serve others in

this way, they never lose out in the end. Because

God sees and he loves and he will reward that

attitude. One day, one day God will say to us

those wonderful words, well done, good and faithful

servant. And when he does, it will dawn on us

that every act of humble, selfless love, it really

was worth it. Paul says, look at Jesus. And see

how high God exalted him. But all of this, it

helps in another way too. Because the Christian,

we belong to Jesus. He's taken hold of us. We

are united with him. Which means that we go the

same way that he went. Our lives will reflect

this pattern. That the Christian life is a life

of stooping down and being lifted up. It is a

life of suffering and glory. It is a life of

loss and gain. It is a life of death and life.

And that is true in terms of its overall shape.

We live a life of suffering now and glory to

come. But it's not just the overall shape I think

that Paul is talking about here. That pattern.

will be seen and lived out and reenacted in countless

smaller ways throughout the course of our lives.

And that shouldn't surprise us, I don't think.

Tis the way the master went, should not the servant

tread it still. The thing is, so often, even

in ministry, suffering, And loss and death take

us by surprise. That they shouldn't do. That

the Bible is replete with those warnings. But

so often they do. And when we experience them,

we think that something is wrong. But it's not.

In our happiest moments. We must remember that

suffering and loss and death, they are normal

in Christian life and ministry. And therefore,

I think we hold lightly to the good things that

God gives us. We mustn't ever think that God's

good gifts are things to cling onto and to be

used for our own advantage. And yet in times

of suffering, loss and death, we must also remember

that this is not the end of the story. It never

was. And it never will be. Glory and gain and

life are coming. So look at Jesus and take heart.

And in those moments, Of death and loss and suffering.

Don't despair. What's the secret of unity? Paul

says it is a mindset of humble, selfless love.

Look at Jesus and adopt the same mindset. See

how low he humbled himself. See how high the

Father exalted him. Let's pray. Our Father in

heaven, we thank you so much for this stunning

portrait of the Lord Jesus father we we are astounded

that he should be willing to go to stoop to such

depths for us and for our salvation how humbling

to think that the one who was in very nature

God should be willing to make himself nothing

and pour himself out for us. Father, we pray.

We pray that you would help us to look at him,

to see how low he humbled himself, to see how

high you exalted him, and then to adopt the same

mindset. Help us, Father, please. Not to put

our own interests first, but the interests of

others. For Jesus' sake we pray.