In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'Freely Receiving, Freely Giving,' he explores Philippians 2:1-4, emphasizing the necessity of Christian unity and conduct worthy of the gospel. The sermon begins by examining the significance of the 'therefore' in the passage, linking it to the preciousness of the gospel and the conduct expected from Christians. Dohm discusses the abundance of resources available to believers in Christ, such as consolation, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, and affection and mercy, which are essential for fostering unity. He underscores four responsibilities—being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, and being of one mind—that Christians are called to uphold, enabled by the resources provided through their union with Christ. The sermon highlights the importance of humility and selflessness, contrasting unity killers like selfish ambition with unity builders like valuing others above oneself. Dohm ties these themes to the example of Christ, who epitomizes self-sacrificing love, urging believers to advance the interests of others as a testament to their faith. The sermon calls for practical application and self-reflection to cultivate a community characterized by Christ-like love and unity.

This morning's sermon text is Philippians chapter 2, 1 through 4. Today's grammar lesson is that the passage starts with the word therefore. So to find out what the therefore is therefore, we're going to back up and pass the uninspired chapter break to the equally uninspired paragraph break in verse 27 of chapter 1. Please follow along. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. The sermon title this morning is Freely Receiving, freely giving.

And the title is a phrase lifted out of Matthew chapter 10 verse 8. Matthew chapter 10 verse 8, Jesus says, freely you have received, freely give. And he is speaking to his disciples, he is actually sending them out to preach and to heal the sick and to cleanse lepers and to raise the dead and to cast out demons. And he is telling them something that is profound and that applies to all Christians after those disciples, which is that God gives us a great, a lavish abundance of various things, and He wants us to give out of the abundance that we've received. So we have very freely been given things in Christ, by Christ, by God, through Christ, and out of that abundance we have to take and give to others.

I believe that's exactly what this text is all about. This text is about the resources that those who are in Christ have and what we ought to do with them. That's the summary of this text and of the sermon. I want us to consider the bookends. In other words, I want us to consider last week's text and next week's text because this all weaves together.

It's all on a central theme. The theme began in last week's text in verse 27 when Paul begins to discuss conduct that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Now think of how precious this gospel is. Now we're talking about conduct that is worthy of a Gospel that is that precious. In beginning to explain what conduct that could possibly be worthy of something so precious, he begins by speaking of Christian unity.

One spirit, one mind, striving together. These are the words that he was using to begin to speak of Christian unity. And in this week we have the further development of that theme. Christian unity, Christians being united in heart, mind and spirit, is conduct that is worthy of this precious gospel. Now Paul is going to explain to us more of what that looks like.

And then next week, in next week's text, we're going to see that this is perfectly exemplified in who? Of course it's in Christ. Christ is our best example of anything that's good, but particularly this. This is about Christ-likeness. Last week's text and this week's text is about growing in Christ-likeness, being conformed little by little into the precious image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's where Christian unity comes from. We want to be unified. We look at Jesus Christ and we try to get ourselves to think more like Him. And to speak more like Him and to act more like Him. Trust me, as we think more, and speak more, and act like Jesus Christ, we are going to have a lot more unity, and it's going to be sweet unity.

So that's what we are being taught by Paul in this section that really won't end until we'll be going through chapter 2 verse 18. So there will be a number of more weeks where the theme will be conduct that is worthy of the Gospel of Christ. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Our Father, I thank you that in the Lord Jesus Christ we have all that we need for life and godliness. There is nothing that we need for this life to be lived together with our brothers and sisters.

There is nothing that we need for godliness that is not to be had in being joined and unified with your son, Jesus Christ. So thank you that you have made union with Christ available through His work, His cleansing, atoning work that He did by shedding His blood. And for what this purchase is for us, not just forgiveness, but lavish resources to draw upon to live a life that honors You. Help us to learn this lesson well. Thank you for this text.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like to begin by looking just at verse one. Verse one ends with a comma, so it will be a little awkward to cut it off there, but for the sake of doing this in bite-sized chunks, that's how we're going to approach it. So follow along with me as I read again Philippians chapter 2 verse 1. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, comma, stop.

So here in verse one we have four resources. If you are taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it is just resources. Four resources. Verse one starts with the word, Therefore, it links us back to our theme that started in verse 27, conduct that is worthy of the Gospel, and then a beginning of a discussion of Christian unity, and this is the development of that discussion on Christian unity. Paul tells us what to look for when we think about Christian unity.

And then we have four IF clauses. IF, IF, IF, IF. And I'm going to name them rhetorical if clauses. You know what a rhetorical question is. It's a question, it's not really an honest question in the sense that an answer isn't being sought.

The reason you ask a rhetorical question is to stimulate thinking because the answer is so obvious that the question really doesn't need to be answered out loud. If you ask a rhetorical question, that's what you're after. You're driving home the point that the answer is so obvious that no one needs to blurt it out. That's a rhetorical question. These are rhetorical ifs.

The answer to whether it is or isn't is so obvious that no one needs to blurt out the answer. So Paul is looking for an effect by saying, if, if, if, if. And he gets it. He gets the effect, I think, when we read these things. So this is Just beginning with the first of these four rhetorical if clauses.

If there is any consolation in Christ, come on Paul, We're not children here. Of course there is consolation in Christ. There's only consolation in Christ. There's a super abundance of consolation in Christ? It's jarring.

So Paul is giving us something jarring to force us to think of the magnitude of what is hand. Okay class, if there is any consolation in Christ, and then the lecturer just sits back, deal with that one. Could this be more obvious? Because of the flood of consolation that any Christian has ever received in Christ makes you go, What? Why would anyone put an if before that?

For that reaction. That's why. And he gets it. He gets it from me when I read this. In Luke chapter 2, verse 25, Jesus, as his parents first born, is brought to the temple for the offering to be made for first borns.

And there is someone there to meet them. And it's Simeon. He is an old man and God has told him that he won't die until he has seen who? The consolation of Israel. Capital C, consolation of Israel.

And he recognizes that in Jesus, in baby Jesus, he has seen the consolation, capital C, consolation of Israel. It's capitalized because this is a messianic title. The Messiah is titled this, the consolation of the Lord's people is in the person of the Redeemer, Jesus. So he doesn't just console his people, he is the consolation of his people. He deserves a title for it.

This is Jesus Christ. If there is any consolation in the consolation of Israel, then Think of your sorrows. Got any sorrows? So we live in a world after the fall. The Fall was a long time ago.

Sin has had a long time to work its way through this world like leaven. And there's nowhere that sin hasn't touched. Even in the most quote unquote carefree life, there are many sorrows. Follow celebrity culture. The beautiful people, they're like gorgeous, all of them.

They're rich, all of them. They have everything that the human heart thinks that it desires, and yet they are drugging themselves and killing themselves. This tells you all you need to know about the sin-sick world that we live in. Even in the most quote-unquote carefree life where you're the beautiful people and you have all these resources and you have enormous houses and you have limos and drivers and everything that your heart thinks that it wants, there's such emptiness and so many sorrows still in this life that you try to escape any way that you can. We are in a world of sorrows.

Even the people who seem to not have any outwardly have maybe more than their fair share inwardly. I think that's what we see in celebrity culture. Now think about union with Christ in light of that. Which of our sorrows from living in this sin-sick world are not provided for and ultimately overwhelmed by what Jesus did in dying on the cross? So You've got a world full of sorrow.

Even the most carefree are filled with sorrows. If you're in Christ, thinking about your union with Christ, and the comforts that that has delivered to you, the consolations that that has delivered to you, which of those sorrows is not provided for by Jesus and what He has done. Which of those is not ultimately overwhelmed, if that is what God has done by sending Jesus, He has overwhelmed the sorrows of his people. So whatever they are, however acute they are feeling right now, however sharp they are piercing you this morning, the work of Jesus Christ, God has sent Jesus to do that work, to overwhelm them, to flood them, to flood your sorrows. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

I believe in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 we are getting sort of commentary on our text that God has given us an abundant resources with something in mind. 2 Corinthians 1 I will be reading verses 3-5. Follow along. Paul writes, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Paul is talking about the sorrows that are encountered in a sin-sick world, the tribulations that come upon us in this life.

And that God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is brought into this in verse 1. And that this has a purpose. Yes, God wants us to be comforted. So it is confirmation for its own sake, but not just for its own sake.

God, in comforting us in our sorrows, gives us resources with which we are intended to comfort those who are also in trials and tribulations. He is giving us resources to draw on to be a blessing to others who also find themselves to be in a sin-sick world with sorrows. That's one of the reasons why the God of all comfort comforts us. He gives us resources to also comfort. That was first.

If there is any consolation in Christ. Second, if there is any comfort of love, now By the way, the master phrase in verse one is, in Christ. Everything in verse one has to be seen through the lens of union with Christ, in Christ. So secondly, if there is any comfort of love in Christ, we can tack this on to any and everything in verse 1. Is there any comfort of love?

Has Anybody ever been comforted by being loved? Of course! Again, it's another jarring phrase to force us into a recognition that yes, in Christ there is a super abundance of comfort from love. Is this God's triune love for you? When I say triune, I mean if you are in Christ, God has loved you in eternity past.

He sent Christ who laid down his life because he loved you and it was to redeem you. Now the Holy Spirit has entered time and space to apply the work of Christ to set you apart to be gods. And convince you that the Word of God is the Word of God and that Christ has died for you, and now you are condensed. He has loved you in that way. Is that what is being spoken of here?

The love of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit for you? Or is this your love for God? I've experienced comfort from loving God. Or is this your brethren's love for you? Have you ever been comforted by their other Christians and they in practical ways express love for you and you get comfort from that or is this your love for your brethren?

And the answer to that I think is yes, yes, and yes, and yes. There were four of those. Yes! It's all of them. He's remaining purposefully vague, and I think he does that in a couple of spots in this text, remaining purposefully vague because several things are wrapped together up under the same banner here.

It is all of those kinds of love that we experience in Christ. The love for one another and the love, the mutual love, the two-way love between us and God. All of that delivers comfort to our doorstep, doesn't it? Of course it does. Turn to Colossians 3.

It's just a few pages back from our text in Philippians. From our text in Philippians. Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13. I am tying into the word beloved in Colossians chapter 3. So follow along with me as I read Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13.

Therefore, As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do." You see the exact same thing is being done in Colossians chapter 3. As the elect of God, holy and beloved, as the loved of God, be this way towards one another. What is this way? Well, putting on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, it's very similar to what's being said in our text.

But it's grounded, not in your ability to somehow gin this up in your own heart, so like I get pumped up to go act the right way towards my brothers and sisters in Christ. I work this up. No, no, no. It is grounded in what you have received. As the beloved of God, having been well loved, lavishly loved, you have been given a reservoir to draw from.

Now go act this way towards your brothers and sisters. How do you forgive them? As you have been forgiven by Christ, then you forgive them. So our sins against one another are sometimes quite large until we consider them in the view of what we've been forgiven, and then they're quite small. Isn't that how it works?

You sinned against me. It's the biggest thing in the world. You've done the most terrible thing to me. Okay, now let's consider your sins against a holy God. Oh, well, now your sins against me are not that significant.

It is a matter of perspective. As the loved of God, now go treat your brothers and sisters this way. That's what Paul is saying in our text. You've been forgiven so much by Christ, now you have something, a standing place from which to forgive your brothers and sisters. So first, if there is any consolation in Christ.

Second, if there is any comfort of love. Third, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit. Any fellowship of the Spirit? Of course, there is a super abundance of fellowship of the Spirit. This is both vertical and horizontal.

Vertical meaning our relationship with God. Romans 8 verse 15, Paul says, You receive the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out Abba, Father. Paul is teaching there that the indwelling Spirit, one of His roles is to connect us to our Father. We have the indwelling Spirit within us. If you are joined to Christ, if you are in union with Christ, the Spirit has come to dwell in you, and He cries out, Abba, Father!

He's connecting you to the Father. Your fellowship with God is promoted, it is His work by the Holy Spirit. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13, Paul says, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all have been made to drink into one Spirit. It is also the work of the Spirit to promote our oneness as children in this family. The indwelling spirit promotes our fellowship with God.

He cries out within us, Abba Father. He gives us that impulse that God is our Father and to go to Him. And He is also promoting our oneness, whereby one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks. That's everybody, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, whether slaves or free. That was third, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit.

Yes, there is fellowship of the Spirit, both with God and with each other, through the working of the indwelling Spirit. Fourth, if there is any affection and mercy. Again, all of these things are under the banner in Christ. So in Christ, is there any affection and mercy? Again, it's another jarring phrase.

Of course there is a super abundance of affection and mercy. Again, he is not restricting it to the vertical or the horizontal plane, to the relationship just with God or to the relationship just with our brothers and sisters because it applies to both and because both are wrapped up in this. So he is purposefully vague again. Christian, you have all of these. In other words, if you are joined to Christ, if you are in union with Christ, you have consolation in Christ.

You have comfort of love. You have fellowship of the Spirit. You have affection and mercy in Christ. You have all of these things, these are yours. Whether you treasure them, Whether you enjoy them, whether you draw upon them is another matter, but you have them.

If you are in Christ, you have them. But Paul is teaching us, treasure them, enjoy them, Draw upon them for your relationships within the body of Christ and without. They are resources given to us to draw upon for our relationships, especially one with another in the body of Christ. Verse 2. Verse 2.

Back to Philippians chapter 2 verse 2. Fulfill my joy by being like-minded. We are back to the if, if, if, if. We have answered those with a resounding yes. There's all of that.

Then fulfill my joy by being like minded. Having the same love. Being of one accord. Of one mind. So here in verse two we have four responsibilities.

In verse 1 we had four resources to draw upon. And now we're given the responsibilities that we're drawing upon the resources for. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's responsibilities. Four responsibilities. So it's not if, but since, right, since we have the resources, they are rhetorical ifs, since we have lavishly poured out on us these four resources, then these other four things in verse two must result from us as believers.

So the flow of thought is God has lavishly given his people these resources and we are to draw on them for these four responsibilities. It enables us. Verse 1 enables us for verse 2. That's the flow of thought. The first responsibility.

Be like-minded. Draw from these lavish resources and be like-minded. To be like-minded is to share a common disposition about things. You're thinking the same way about things. It's no mystery what being like-minded is.

We see something and we are seeing it the same way. We have a common disposition. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 16, Paul says, We have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2, 16.

We have the mind of Christ. Because we share in this mind, if you want to know about this mind, you can pick up the book. The book tells us about the mind, gives us thoughts from the mind of Christ, and we share that. It gives us this common disposition. We didn't used to love a certain set of things.

In fact, we used to hate those things, but now we love them because we are Christians, because we are joined to Christ and we share in His mind. We didn't used to hate certain things, in fact we used to secretly love them, But now we are learning to hate them together. Together we are learning to hate the things he hates. Together we are learning to love the things that he loves. This means we are growing in our like-mindedness, or so we should be.

Second, have the same love. There is a mutual love that is shared by Christians. Two-way love. It's always reciprocated when we're in Christ. It always goes in both directions.

For Christians, our love has the same source. My love comes from the same place your love comes from, for both in Christ. He loved us first, so we loved Him, and now we love each other. He is the source of our love. Our love has the same ultimate object.

God is the ultimate object of our love. In other words, I only love you because of my relationship being brought into fellowship with God, because I love God. We're not talking about human love here, we're talking about supernatural, brotherly, in the family of God love. And as Christians, we have the same love commands, and there's a lot of them. But there's two big ones that all of the rest of the love commands roll up to, and that is the greatest commandment, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

All consuming love for God is the greatest commandment. That's the greatest love command. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets.

Hang all the other love commands. Love is the fulfillment of the law. It's all from Matthew 22, the two great commandments. So, our love has the same source, has the same ultimate object, and we have the same love commands, to love God and to love our neighbor. Now Jesus took the old commandments, the commandments that we got through Moses, God commanding us through Moses, and he added a new one.

Turn to John 13. He added a new one. John 13. John 13. In 1 John, don't turn to 1 John, we're turning to the Gospel of John chapter 13.

In 1 John, John says, I don't have a new commandment, but here's a new commandment. This is how we should think of this. In other words, it's not new, God telling us to love. The Lord's people have always been under command by God to love. It's given new in John 13 verses 34 and 35.

Follow along. John 13, 34 and 35. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." So Jesus starts out by saying, a new commandment I give you that you love one another.

What's so new about that? Leviticus 19, 18, love your neighbor as yourself. That part is not new, But what follows is new. As I have loved you, you also ought to love one another. The love of Jesus Christ is new in the sense that Love had never been displayed so selflessly before Jesus came and laid down His life.

Love is on a whole new level with Jesus' modeling of it, with Jesus' display of it as Jesus goes to the cross. Now that kind of self-sacrificing love is to be the love between the brethren now in our union with Christ. That part's new. So there's a lot at stake for us. This is more about me, more than about me and my needs.

I do have a need for love. I need it. I need the Lord's love. But there's more at stake than just that here. There is the witness to the world.

Jesus says, They'll know you're my disciples if you have love for one another. This Christ-like, self-sacrificing love is the target here as a demonstration to the world of the greatness of God and his love. I hope you can see as we go through these responsibilities, we need massive resources for this. You better have a deep well that you're drawing from if your objective is to be like-minded with a bunch of other people coming from different backgrounds, to have the same love. Now thirdly to be of one accord, then we're going to get to fourth to be of one mind.

We need a lot of resources for this. But here's what Paul is telling us in this text. We have them. We need a lot of resources, especially to have the same love. That's the big one to me.

That's the hard one. But we have the resources to obey the exhortations that Paul is bringing us to. Thirdly, be of one accord. Strong's, in the Strong's definitions, for the Greek word that is rendered one accord here, Strong says, co-spirited. Strong defines it that way because Paul has jammed two Greek words together that aren't normally, it's not a normal Greek compound word.

He's put two words together and sort of coined a phrase. Like, co-spirited, or as MacArthur is going to say, one-souled. Be one soul with each other. So here's exactly what MacArthur says in his study bible. This is perhaps a term specially coined by Paul.

You don't find it in ancient Greek literature. He has put two words together in a unique way that you don't find elsewhere. He coined the term. It literally means one soul and describes people who are knit together in harmony. Harmoniously together, one accord.

Having the same desires and passions and ambitions. What is this about? This is about Having our master's interests at heart. We're coming to walking away from your own interests only, in other words, in order to give attention to others' interests. But this starts with, now I have my master's interests at heart.

I used to be my own master, serving self, loving self, But to be united with Christ is to take a new master. You've got to take a new master to be united to Christ. And now it's his interests. It's a setting aside of my interests to pursue his interests. And when I'm pursuing his interests and you're pursuing his interests, we're of one accord because we're chasing the same objectives, and they're his objectives.

The fourth responsibility is B of one mind. At this point there's lots of overlap with what's already been said. That's on purpose. But Paul is coming at it from different angles to drive home the point through repetition. So if being like-minded and being of one mind and being of one accord sounds alike to you, That's on purpose.

Paul is piling it up to come at it from slightly different angles to drive the point home. Here's what Paul says in Romans 12 verse 16. Listen to this. Paul says, Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.

Do not be wise in your own opinion. Here's my translation of that. Don't be full of yourself. Stop being full of yourself. Stop being wise in your own eyes and exalting your own opinion.

Like eat some humble pie, have some humility. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. This is what happens to Christians.

They go from being totally full of themselves to a little less and a little less and a little less and a little less. This is sanctification, progressive sanctification. This does not happen overnight. I don't think I need to say that at this point. So we're given these four responsibilities.

Be like-minded, have the same love, be of one accord, be of one mind, and then finally Paul says that if they do this, if they give themselves to these things, it will result in fullness of joy for him. Their progress makes him happy. That's how it works with Paul. He's a spiritual father to these that he's brought the gospel to and when they're flourishing, when they're growing, when they're doing well in the Lord he's happy. The Apostle John expressed something almost exactly like this in 3 John verse 4.

Third John is just a single chapter so you don't name a chapter it's just 3 John verse 4 and John says, I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. Paul is saying exactly the same thing. These spiritual fathers who wrote the New Testament think the same way. If their spiritual children are doing well, they're happy. So it was with John, so it is with Paul.

Finally, verses 3 and 4. Back to Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4. Follow along. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Here in these two verses we have not this, but that twice. If you're filling in blanks, it's this, that. Not this, but that. It's a study in contrast. He's giving us contrasting things and saying, no, no, no, not this, but what contrasts it?

That. Don't do this, instead do that. Don't be like this, instead be like that. Next week he is going to ground it all in Christ. So again, I just want to bring that front and center.

This is about Christ-likeness. Here in these two verses we're given two unity Killers, things that kill, Christian unity, and we're given two contrasts, or unity builders, in succession. So unity killer, unity builder. Unity killer, unity builder, in succession. We're given two poisons and two antidotes.

An antidote is something, when you drink a poison, you have a little bit of time to take the antidote. The antidote is something that has been developed to counteract the reactions that the poison causes. So if you take the antidote in time, it won't kill you. It counteracts the poison. So here we're given two poisons and their antidotes.

Unity killer number one. Doing things through selfish ambition or conceit. That's the first poison that Christians can take to kill unity within the body of Christ. Doing things through selfish ambition or conceit. So the key phrase from verse one, where all our resources come from, was what?

In Christ. That's where our resources come from. This is the exact opposite of that. Selfish ambition or conceit is not centered around the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not centered around where we get our resources from being in Christ, our union with Him.

We have already seen an example of this in Philippians. Just look at Philippians 1 verses 15 and 16, where Paul is talking about people who preach Christ from wrong motives. Let's listen to chapter 1 verse 15 and then 16. Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, the same phrase used in our text, Not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my chains.

So Christians are supposed to have adopted a new master and adopted the interests of that master, abandoning their own interests to pursue the interests of the Master. But this is the exact opposite of that. Doing things from selfish ambition. Me, me, more me, or conceit. Thinking too highly of myself.

The antidote to that is what? Inhumility, or as our text says, in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than yourself, putting others above yourself, valuing others above yourself. We have a poison acting out of selfish ambition or conceit, and we have the antidote in humility valuing others above yourself. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. Matthew Henry says, We must be severe upon our own faults and charitable in our judgments of others.

Be quick in observing our own defects and infirmities but ready to overlook and make favorable allowances for the defects of others. This is the Christian disposition. This is exactly the opposite of the natural man, which wants to go easy on me, but be hypercritical of you. Isn't that our natural instinct? The little things in you are terrible, the big things in me are excusable.

The Christian disposition is the flip side of that, where I am concerned about my sins and aware, acutely aware of my own sins, but you can have the benefit of the doubt all day long because of the grace I have received." That is the Christian disposition. So here Paul is simply calling us to the Christian disposition where we are very, very concerned about our own sins because they dishonor our God and we are very free to let you off the hook and give you the benefit of the doubt. Turn to Ephesians 4 verses 1-3. We were actually in Ephesians 4, I think verses 1-5 last week. So we're going to, yeah 1-6 last week.

We're going to abbreviate it this week, but come back to it because it has so much light to throw on our own text. Ephesians 4, verses 1-3. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You can see Paul is saying the same thing here in a different way and just expanding it and throwing more light on it here. He begins by talking about worthy conduct.

So you can see right away there is already an intersection with our text. This is about conduct that is worthy of the Lord or worthy of the Gospel. But he ends up saying we must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In other words, you have to endeavor and you have to keep. Christian unity must be fought for.

We do have resources to draw on. We learned in verse one of today's text, lavish resources to draw on them. But you must draw on them. You must draw on them. Christian unity doesn't do itself.

We must endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. God has provided for it lavishly, but we have to fight for it. Unity killer number two, back to Philippians 2. Unity killer number two, looking out only for your own interests. We have a phrase for this, don't we, in the modern vernacular.

Looking out for number one. And who's number one? Me! I'm number one! So, whatever's good for me is what you should be concerned with.

Certainly what I should be concerned with. Looking out for number one. That's a unity killer, isn't it? Living in tight quarters as we do, Think if we all just look out for our own interests. Then they collide.

You looking out for your interests collides with me looking out for my own interests. That was never going to work. You're talking about conflict built in. It is a unity killer. What's the antidote?

What's the unity builder? Also looking out for the interests of others. This is interesting. It's assumed that we're going to look out for our own interests and that is not condemned. Isn't that true?

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others. It is assumed I'll be looking out for my own interests and that is not condemned but it's also not enough in the text. We're also to look to the interests of others. It's like loving your neighbor as yourself. It's assumed that you're going to be loving yourself, but you're also to turn the attentions of your love also to your neighbor.

This is similar to that. In Men's Bible study, the question was asked, How do we know what our own interests are? And my knee-jerk reaction to that, or the answer that popped into my mind is, I breathe that. Jason's interests are on Jason's mind. I don't have to do a big survey to know what my interests are, because I'm thinking about them all the time.

Our interests are top of mind. What Paul is teaching is, our brother's interests, our sister's interests, should be top of mind too. In other words, you don't have to ask me what my interests are. I intuitively know them Because I'm concerned about them all day, every day. They are my concerns.

And it should be the same way with our brothers and sisters. We should be thinking about each other's interests and wondering about what would advance their cause. What would advance their cause? You know the term tunnel vision. Tunnel vision is when you're so focused, so absorbed with one thing that you can't see anything else.

You lose all peripheral vision. You are so absorbed with what is right in front that you lose the big picture and whatever else is going on in the world. Tunnel vision is a terrible blindness and it is the blight of human nature, isn't it? So absorbed with my own interests that I lose everything that's on the periphery, including your own interests. The resources that we are given, the consolation in Christ, the comfort of love, the fellowship of the Spirit, The affection and mercy of being in Christ helps us out of that predicament of being so absorbed with self and my own interests that I totally lose sight.

It allows us to have each other's interests in view. I turn to Romans 15. This is our last stop. Romans 15. Romans 15, I'll be reading 1-3.

Paul writes, Romans 15, 1-3, We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on Me." So same theme. The interests of others. Go please your neighbor is what Paul says in Romans chapter 15.

Go please your neighbor. Go build up your neighbor and then it's grounded in what? Human goodness? No, no, no. It's grounded in Christ.

What he's really saying is go act like Jesus. So This is really just an entree into next week's text, where it is brought right to Christlikeness. This is the heart of the gospel. In what way? In every way.

The gospel is that Jesus didn't look to his own interests, but he set aside his interests to look to your interests. You were a sinner with no way out of that. Guilty people have no way to go undo that so that they are no longer guilty. How are you going to do that? How are you going to go undo your sin?

Sinners are in that predicament with no way to get out of it except for that God says He will accept a righteous one in your place. Substitutionary atonement. So this is all grounded in the Gospel. The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. In other words, we deserve to reproach, but instead of the reproach coming to us, they fell on Christ.

My reproaches fell on Christ. And this is the basis of us pleasing our neighbor instead of ourselves because that's what Jesus did. If you don't have that, you don't have a gospel. If you don't have Jesus setting aside his interest to look out for your interests you lose the gospel It's grounded in the gospel for applications For applications number one Do not skip to verse 2 and make this into a simple checklist. Do not, do not, do not.

Verse one, if you can only have one of the two, take verse one. Verse two, if you're living in verse one, verse two will take care of itself. I know that's true. Don't skip verse 1 and get to 2, and these are my responsibilities, and now how am I going to be less of a selfish pig than I find myself to be? Here's my list of things.

My less selfish list. I've got to go work on my list. These things are provided for in Christ. We're given resources for these things. If you try to embark on doing the list without the resources, you are dead meat.

You have no hope to accomplish these things without the resources that are lavished on you in verse 1. It's about verse 1. Don't skip to verse 2. Number 2. If you are in Christ, talking to Christians, if you are in Christ, check your fuel gauge.

Check your fuel gauge. Check your verse one gauge. I said this earlier. That the resources have been provided doesn't mean that you enjoy them, appreciate them, draw upon them. There are ways to fan the things in verse 1 into flame.

Those are the things we talk about every week. The common means of grace. The means, The channels by which God normally pours His grace. He can do it supernaturally without these things, but normally God pours His grace through a Christian with a humble heart coming to the Word of God and looking and seeing what it says and desiring to be under the authority of it. Grace normally is poured through times of prayer and fellowship with God.

Grace is normally poured through the people of God gathering together to worship Him, and God comes there and gives grace. Normally, this is how grace is normally given. God's so good that He does it outside of the normal means, sometimes, often. What I'm saying is There are ways to fan the things in verse 1 into flame. We should be looking to fan them into flame so that we have an abundance of resources so we can treat each other in the way that honors God.

If you're in Christ, check your fuel gauge. Verse 1 is the fuel to take us to verse 2. Verse 2 is the destination. Verse 1 is the fuel to get you there. Number 3.

This is for children. Children, Are you listening? Children who have already listened through a long sermon must now listen. Selfishness is often less sophisticated in your life. Meaning, adults have learned sophistication to hide our selfishness.

In you, often the selfishness is right there on the surface in those things that you say and the things that you do. That's actually good. I'm calling on the children to use the selfishness that you find in your life to assess where you are, to help you understand your state. Children, you should be asking yourself, Do I have the resources to draw on to overcome this selfishness that keeps bubbling up to the surface? Children, ask yourself that.

I keep finding myself with these very obvious on the surface eruptions of selfishness. Do I have the resources to draw on to overcome that? The answer for those who are joined to Christ is yes. You'll find that you do. You'll be able to make progress.

The answer to those who are outside of Christ is no. You have no hope in overcoming the eruptions of selfishness unless you're joined to Christ. That's the only way that you have the resources to do this. Finally, number four. Number four is your homework.

You have homework. You're being sent home with homework this week. Ask yourself this question, what one practical concrete thing can I do this week to advance the interests of one of my brothers and sisters? One thing to advance the interests of one of your brothers and sisters. Just one thing, just one of your brothers and sisters, but something very concrete to advance their interest.

I'm going to start next week's sermon with that. I've already opened the sermon file. I've already dumped that in. So I'm going to start. I'm going to ask you if You did your homework next week at the beginning of the sermon.

We should make it a habit to notice what's going on with other people and to go out of our way to advance their interests. Can you imagine the sweet little church we would have if we corporately make progress in this? Like all of a sudden now you have a hundred people looking out for your interests and you're looking out for the interests of a hundred people. Father, that teaches to be like your son, just a little more like your son. We know there's so much selfishness that still remains in our hearts if everybody else in the room knew.

We'd all be humiliated. I thank you for Christ as example and that you have given us the resources that we need to make progress. There is such abundant consolation in Christ. There is such abundant comfort of love. There is such abundant fellowship of the Spirit.

There is such abundant affection and mercy in Christ. May we have such a deep well to draw upon in order to relate to one another in a way that brings honor to Christ in the world. I pray you would accomplish this among us in Jesus name. Amen.