Philippians 2:1-4      Getting Along With Christians

Rev. David Holwick

First Baptist Church

West Lafayette, Ohio

June 10, 1984

Getting Along With Christians


Philippians 2:1-4, KJV



Our world is full of conflict.  Lately we've been hearing a lot about the war between Iran and Iraq.  Iraq will blow up an oil tanker.  Then Iran bombs a village.  For more than two years they have fought back and forth with nothing to show for it.


We also see a lot of conflict between individuals.  Take the Democratic primary.  Each candidate held pretty much to the same beliefs, so they concentrated on personal attacks.  It must take a special person to be a politician.  You put your face on huge posters; spend a few million bucks on television ads to say how great you are and to make sure the voters get the point you have to stress how inadequate the other candidates are.  It can get pretty messy.


These are the conflicts you read about in the news.  There is another area of conflict that doesn't get as much attention but it is just as serious in its own way.  This is the conflict between Christians.  Denominations break apart, churches split down the middle and Christians stab each other in the back.  Once recent book is called simplym "The Great Church Fight."  Many Christians don't realize how crucial it is to have correct relationships.  Jesus himself said there was only one way non-believers will listen to us.  According to John 13:35:


"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."


Jesus is saying bluntly that the thing which makes the message of God's love believable is the evidence of God's love in his people.  If God's people don't love each other how are unbelievers going to be reached with God's love?  Besides obscuring the evangelistic message, strife between Christians uses up our energy.  There is only so much nervous and physical energy in all of us and the more we use in fighting each other, the less there will be for the real task God has called us to. 


With these things in mind we should look at what the Bible has to say on the topic.  You'll find that getting along with Christians has to be closely related to understanding them.  To understand Christians it is necessary to keep in mind what they believe.  According to the apostle Paul there are four spiritual facts that should make fighting among Christians obsolete.


First, there is consolation in Christ.  It should be obvious that every Christian has a personal relationship with Christ.  If you don't have a personal relationship with him, you're not a Christian.  Even though this is a fundamental Christian belief it is often forgotten when two believers start to fight.  According to the Bible, Christians in the church are joined together like parts of a body.  Since we all are parts of Christ's body, any damage we inflict on other Christians is really self-destructive.  Hands and teeth usually get along well together, especially if they belong to the same body.  Hands have been known to punch teeth and teeth have been known to bite hands but rarely on the same body.  That is what happens when Christians fight each other.  They bite their own hands and punch their own teeth because as Christians they are "members, one of another."


A second spiritual fact is the comfort of love.  It is said that love makes the world go round.  Human love can make life interesting but it doesn't move the world.  Only God's love can do this.  God's love is the great motivating factor of the universe and is responsible for our salvation.  Anyone who is born-again is in that condition because they understand something of the love of God.  Love is at the root of the Christian experience.  We should know this better than anyone but apparently we choose to forget it in the heat of the battle.  When Christians remember God's love at a time of crisis they should realize how foolish hard feelings are.  Our own salvation is based on God's love.  If we have experienced God's love ourselves, we should be able to spread it around during intense moments.


A third spiritual fact is the fellowship of the Spirit.  The Bible says in Romans 8:9:


"If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."


All true Christians possess the Spirit, according to Paul.  You don't have to get someone to lay hands on you.  You don't have to speak in tongues, or have a vision.  The Holy Spirit is an automatic result of accepting Christ.  When we receive the Spirit it is supposed to produce fellowship.  This fellowship, or koinonia, is the exact opposite of bickering.  It means to freely share what you have with each other.


The fourth spiritual fact is bowels and mercies.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, bowels means "affection."  It is an intensely personal expression for love.  This can be taken two ways.  It either means the affection and mercies Christians have for each other or it means the affection and mercy God has for us.  Since the other spiritual facts originate with God, this one probably does as well, so the second view is preferable.  However, both go together - if God loves us we should love one another.


It's interesting that each of these facts is introduced by the word "if."  It almost gives you the impression these aren't facts at all but are only remote possibilities.  When you look at the way some Christians act, you have to wonder.  It can seem like spiritual rebirth hasn't changed them a bit.  The word "if" doesn't mean Paul had any doubts about God's love and power to change lives.  Paul doesn't have doubts about God but he questions people who claim to know God, yet rip other people up.  It isn't good enough for a Christian to say they believe this doctrine or that spiritual fact.  The final test is obedience to God's commands. 


In verse 2 Paul lists qualities that should describe mature Christians.  He says they should be "likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."  These phrases are full of meaning but it is obvious that the overriding theme is unity of mind and motive.  It's also obvious you can't practice these by yourself.  Paul is really describing a whole church here.  The way for a church to arrive at this unity is found in verse 3 and 4.  Paul says:


"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other as better than themselves.  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others."


"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory."  {Strife = party spirit}  The book of Philippians puts a lot of emphasis on the glory of God.  It's mentioned four times.  Vain-glory means you are putting yourself in God's place.  You try to get people to focus on you.  The opposite of vain-glory is humility of mind.  Humility of mind involves regarding others as more important than yourself.  You look for ways to support, encourage and build up the other person.  To do this requires an attitude that would rather give than receive.  Verse 3 gives the attitude we should have and verse 4 gives the lifestyle. 


We're not supposed to think about our own needs but the needs of others.  This doesn't mean we have no regard for ourselves - the NIV brings out the meaning by paraphrasing this way: "...look not only to your own interests."  We should be concerned about ourselves but this should not distract us from the needs of others.  It's a good practice to ask questions like -


Do I have to put myself first?


Do I really care about people?



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Typed on October 30, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey



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