Framework of a Call to Unity

The Interconnection of Doctrine and Practice

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, March 1st, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. May I urge you to follow, please, in your own Bibles as I read this morning the first 11 verses of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, the book of Philippians, chapter 2, and verses 1 through 11. If there is therefore any exhortation or consolation in Christ, if any consolation or persuasion of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, make full my joy that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Doing nothing through faction or through vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself.

1:12 Not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on any other. He made equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also, God highly exalted, and gave unto him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2:27 In our verse-by-verse expositions of this warm epistle, we come today to the amazing paragraph which has been read in your hearing. As we attempt to grasp its teaching, we should understand on the very threshold of our study, the great significance of this portion of the word of God in illustrating one of the most fundamental and important truths of real biblical Christianity. Now, the truth which this passage abundantly illustrates is simply this. The most profound doctrines of the Christian faith ooze with the most practical demands and implications for Christian conduct.

3:28 Now, that's the great principle that stands on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage.

3:34 And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage.

3:34 And as we stand this morning, we stand on the very surface of this passage. And as we stand this morning on the threshold of an examination of its teaching, we must not fail to see the woods for the trees.

3:45 We must recognize that here in this passage is set before us this very vital truth that the most profound doctrines of the Christian faith ooze with the most practical demands and implications for Christian conduct. In other words, the Bible describes a true Christian as a person whose head and whose heart are in the clouds, but whose feet are firmly embedded in the soil of the practical concerns of obedience to the will of God. And according to biblical teaching, a man's feet will not, cannot walk as they ought, unless his head and his heart are where they ought to be. And unless a man's head and heart are drinking in the realities of the most lofty Christian doctrines, his feet cannot walk as they ought to walk in the most practical Christian duties. Or we may state it this way, if a man's head and his heart are where they ought to be as a Christian, the evidence will be seen in that his feet are where they ought to be.

5:13 Now you say, in what sense is that clearly taught in the passage? Well, you will notice that what is considered by many to be the most profound treatment of that great mystery of the incarnation, how it is that the second person of the Godhead becomes true man, that profound statement, of the mystery of the incarnation, progressing onward to what is perhaps the most glorious statement of the depths of his humiliation leading to the glorious heights of his exaltation, come to us in the context of a practical exhortation to Christian duty. This profound treatment of our Lord's incarnation, his humiliation and exaltation, bounded by, verses 5 and 11, does not come to us in a context in which the Apostle says, now to give you the fruits of my latest theological meditations, I hereby propose this great reality, he who was in... No, no.

6:23 It comes on the heels of an exhortation to Christian unity. It comes in the context of a powerful plea, not only to unity, but to the graces which alone can produce that unity, namely humility and self-forgetfulness. And so this passage, I say, sets before us in a most profound and powerful way that very basic principle of the Christian religion. The most profound doctrines ooze with the most practical demands and implication for Christians.

7:05 The most practical demands and implication for Christians is that of Christian conduct. Now in the light of that, all Christian experience and practices derive their motives, their patterns, and their power from the profound realities of Christian doctrine. Anyone who shows an indifference or an antipathy to doctrine is in reality manifesting an antipathy to duty. For Christians, Christian duty can be sustained on no other foundation than that of Christian doctrine.

7:45 And therefore anyone who undermines Christian doctrine in the professed concern for the practical matters of the real world is in reality undermining any real concern with the real world. And so the only truly biblical Christian is the Christian who is concerned to grasp and feel the weight and power of the most profound doctrines. He's determined to have his head and his heart in the clouds so that his feet may walk as they ought to walk upon the earth. And all you need is a passage like Colossians 3 to see that statement brought together.

8:25 If therefore ye have been raised with Christ, seek the things which are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep your head and your heart and your affections in the clouds, and then he says, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Then your feet will walk as they ought upon the earth. So that's not my analogy, that's Paul's analogy.

Connection to Preceding Thought: From World-Facing to Brother-Facing

8:48 Now as we attempt to understand the teaching of this passage, having articulated this broad and basic truth which stands on the very surface of it, what I propose to do this morning, time permitting, is to say two things by way of general introduction to the passage. And then if time permits, to take you into the first verse and the first phrase of the second verse. Now by way of general introduction, we must first of all seek to grasp the connection of this passage with the preceding flow of thought. One of the great concerns of any expositor of the scriptures is not only to open up the meaning of the passage before him, but to furnish the people of God who sit before him, before his ministry, with the tools by which they may understand the word of God when they read it themselves. And because chapter 2 was not in the original letter that the apostle wrote, I am grateful that people broke up these letters into chapters and verses, or we'd have a terrible time finding our way around in preaching and in the use of the verses, and in the use of the materials. But there was no break. And what we have in reality, is an extension and a continuation of the great theme which the apostle began to articulate in verse 27 of chapter 1.

10:16 You remember there was this radical shift from a concentration upon his own circumstances to the lifestyle of the Philippian Christians. And he says in the general exhortation, verse 27 of chapter 1, Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel, he is calling them to a lifestyle that is worthy of the gospel. Then he articulated three manifestations of that lifestyle. I call them, first of all, unified steadfastness, that whether I come or hear of you, that I may know that you stand fast in one spirit, unified steadfastness, harmonious aggressiveness, in or with one soul, striving, striving for the faith of the gospel. And then thirdly, undaunted courageousness in nothing affrightened by the adversaries. Then we considered the results of that undaunted courageousness, and then the source of the suffering which demands that undaunted courageousness. It is given of God, and then the consolation in the midst of it, it brings us into communion and fellowship with the servants of God who, like God, likewise suffer.

11:38 Now follow closely. As the apostle urges upon the Philippians a lifestyle worthy of the gospel, the primary, the dominant concentration of the latter section of chapter 1 is that of the Christian with his face towards the world. Live a life worthy of the gospel. And when he comes to specifics, he says, that is a life of unified steadfastness.

12:12 As your face is towards the world, you will feel the pressure of the world to compromise, to waffle in your convictions, to back down from your commitment to biblical principles. And so if you are to live worthily of the gospel, let it be a life that manifests that element of steadfastness. You see, the emphasis is upon the Christian with his face to the world. Then he speaks of this matter of corporate or unified aggressiveness.

12:44 That also has to do with the Christian and his face to the world. He's not only resisting the world's efforts to squeeze him into its mold, but he is concerned aggressively to win the world to the faith of Jesus Christ. That you with one soul stand fast for the faith, I'm sorry, strive for the faith of the Godhead. That is, strive to defend the gospel.

13:10 Strive to bring others to the faith of the gospel. But again, you see, it's the Christian with his face towards the world. And then when he speaks of undaunted courage, in nothing affrightened by your adversaries, obviously, it's the Christian with his face to the world. He stands fast in Christian principle.

13:30 He is zealous to reach the world with the gospel of grace, but in spite of his face to the world, of his holy, steadfast, self-giving love and concern, the world cannot stand him. And so he has adversaries. But in the face of those adversaries, he is to manifest undaunted courageousness. So you see, the whole flavor of the passage is one in which the Christian is living a life worthily of the gospel, particularly with reference to his stance in the direction of the world.

14:06 But now the apostle shifts, and he describes the Christian's life lived out in a manner worthy of the gospel with his face not towards the world, but with his face towards his brethren. See the emphasis beginning in verse 2? Make full my joy that you, you believers at Philippi, be of the same mind, having the same love. Be of the same mind, being of one accord, with one mind, doing nothing through faction or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself, not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. You see that shift of concentration? No longer contemplating a life worthy of the gospel with the believer's face to the world, but we now behold him with his face towards his brethren. Now Paul will pick up that other posture again, beginning with verse 14 of this chapter.

15:15 Do all things without murmuring and questionings, that ye may become blameless and harmless children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as lights in the world. So he's going to come back to the theme of the Christian with his face towards the world. But now the point of concentration is, the believers as they face one another. Now why is it important to understand that?

15:45 Well, for the simple reason that here we see again a wonderful comprehensiveness and a beautiful symmetry of exhortation. A believer does have responsibilities to live in a manner worthy of the gospel as he faces a hostile and an unbeliever in the living world. And he needs to be exhorted in the direction of the duties that derive from that posture of facing the world. He needs to be steadfast.

16:18 He needs to aggressively to proclaim the gospel. He needs to manifest undaunted courageousness. But he also has responsibilities to his brethren. He needs to understand how he is to relate to his brothers and sisters in the bonds of Christianity.

16:36 Christian truth and fellowship. And one of the great weaknesses of so much of visible professing Christianity in our day is the weakness that comes from imbalance in these matters. There are some churches in which week after week believers are exhorted live a separated life, be a zealous witness, give out tracts, buttonhole the people at work, witness, witness, witness, witness, be separate, be separate, be separate, be separate. And you'd think the whole beginning middle and end of a believer's duties had to do with his face toward the world.

17:13 And there are other assemblies. All they talk about is love one another. Interact with one another. Share with one another.

17:19 Bear one another's burdens. You can go to prayer meetings for seventeen and a half years and you'll never hear prayers that go beyond the circle of their own cozy little lovely little fellowship.

17:34 Upon themselves their faces are towards one another but they're never towards the world. But not to the Apostle Paul as a wise pastor who knows the mind and will of Christ and who reflects it in the strands of emphasis that come through in his letters. Here is that beautiful symmetry. Here is the comprehensiveness and balance of Christian duty.

18:04 The Christian does have a posture with respect to the world and he needs to know what that posture is. What that posture ought to be and in union with Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Ghost he needs to pray for and consciously cultivate all of those graces which are laid upon him in a passage such as Philippians 1 28 to 30. But he also has the solemn responsibilities of chapter 2 particularly verses 2 through 5. He has the solemn responsibility to turn his face to his brethren and self-consciously and likewise in dependence upon the Holy Spirit spurred by biblical motives to cultivate this grace of unity and those graces without which it cannot be attained or maintained mainly humility and self-forgetfulness. Do you feel something now then of the connection between chapter 2, 1 to 11 and what is preceded? I hope you do and I hope when the time comes for you some of you kids who may be only in your early or pre-teens and you have the joy of sitting at the table and opening up the scriptures to your sons and daughters years hence I hope you'll be able to teach them the book of Philippians because you listened this morning and show them that these are not just a bunch of verses

Basic Theme and Structure of the Call to Unity

19:32 flocked in here and there willy-nilly but the Holy Ghost who indicted this epistle through the mind and spirit of the Apostle did so. He did so in a way that reflects this consciousness of the Christian with his face in two directions towards the world the end of chapter 1 towards his brethren chapter 2 verses 1 through 11. Well so much then about the connection of what we are to study with what precedes it now let me say a word by way of general introduction concerning the basic theme and structure of the passage. The theme is clear from the language of verses 2 through 4 it is a call to unity a unity born of humility and unselfishness look at the language make full my joy that ye be of the same mind that's a call to unity and then he expands on what that involves having the same love being the same love being of one accord of one mind and it's as though someone says well Paul if we're to have that unity how do we pursue it? He says you pursue it in the pathway in which there is a death blow struck to all pride. There needs to be the grace

21:01 of humility doing nothing through faction or vain glory but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself and then he says there needs to be the grace of otherness in perspective unselfishness selfless preoccupation with your brothers and sisters not looking each of you to his own things but each of you also to the things of others. So the theme of the passage is very clear from a very cursory reading of these verses it is a call to unity a unity born of and sustained by humility and unselfishness. Well what about the structure of that call? How does it come to us? Well look at the passage.

21:54 There are three major divisions of this call to unity and the attendant graces of humility and selflessness. Paul begins with what I'm calling the framework of the call to unity. Verse 1. And 2a.

22:12 If there is therefore and then he mentions four things any exhortation in Christ any consolation of love any fellowship of the Spirit any tender mercies and compassions make full my joy. The framework for the call is found in those words. Then having given the framework of the call to unity the substance of the call to unity I've already read the verses 2b through 4. That's the substance of the call to unity and then beginning with verse 5 and climaxed in verse 11 we have the glorious pattern and example of the graces essential for this unity.

22:56 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus and the graces of humility and self-forgetfulness are exemplified in the entire complex of those redemptive events in which the word became flesh in which the word having become flesh lives and dies and carries his obedience to the extent of the humiliation of the cross and is subsequently exalted to the right hand of the Father. And all of that constitutes in its context a glorious pattern and example of the graces essential for this unity. Can you think your way through the passage now? I hope you can. I don't do this to just fill up time. I don't do this to appear learned.

23:49 I go through the labor of this that you might be able when you go home to sit down open your Bible and say well you dummy that's all so plain what in the world are we paying him to do that for? Anyone can see that. And when an expositor has done his task you ought to think along those lines but perhaps with a little more graciousness.

The Framework: Assumed Spiritual Realities and Experience

24:11 Alright, very quickly then I do believe I'll have time to address myself to that first division of the passage the framework of the call to unity verses 1 and 2a. Now the framework is constituted or constructed of two basic materials. Some of us had the joy of seeing the framework of this building go up and we know that its basic framework is block for the first story down below. And two by sixes for the second story and then some scissors trusses for the roof above us.

24:48 That's the framework of this building. Well when the apostle would give this call to unity and those graces essential to unity he does not drop it down on a sky hook and say hey Philippians look at my call to unity.

25:06 He gets some block and he gets some two by sixes and he builds a framework within which he will place his call. Now his framework has two materials. The first material is the assumed existence of spiritual realities and experience. The assumed existence of spiritual realities and experience.

25:33 If we're to understand what the apostle is doing in verse 1 and 2a it will help us to understand and perhaps to think of a couple of illustrations that I'll try to set before you. Imagine with me now you kids listen carefully because you can relate to this I'm sure that there's a field general who has some cracked troops who have proven themselves again and again in the worst the most intense and arduous situations of battle and hand to hand combat. Now there's a very strategic battle ahead and so the field general gathers this group in a crack fighting outfit around him having laid out the facts of the task the dangers the tremendous significance of this forthcoming battle he now desires to motivate them. Their minds understand what's before them but now he wants to motivate them and stir them up to go to this task utterly and resolutely committed to victory in that task. And so he may say something like this to his troops Men if you have any true love of country throbbing in your heart if you have any of the fire of true patriotism burning in your breast if you feel any glow of concern

27:02 for liberty and freedom if you know anything of desire to return to your wives and children with honor then go forth prepared to die if necessary in pursuit of the victory. Now what has that field general done? When he says to these crack troops if you have any love of country if you have any fire of patriotism if you have any glow of concern for liberty and freedom if you know anything of desire to return to wife and children when he says if do you think he doubts that those things exist? in his troops?

27:45 No no he's assuming each one of them exists and what he's doing is he's reaching as it were his finger into the hooks in their heart and he's saying if I'm going to draw their hearts into this battle I'm going to find all the hooks I can he knows that patriotism burns in their breast he knows there is love of country love of wife love of children love of honor and so he says if if if if then he summons them to their throne to their task now look at Philippians 2.1 if there is therefore here's the general with his crack troops at Philippi and he's going to summon them to a noble Christian task but he doesn't start by enunciating the task or giving the call he starts by setting a framework of what? assumed existence of spiritual realities and experience in the hearts of the Philippians let me use another illustration that may come closer to home to some of you a godly father has given himself to rear his children to the glory of God he's on his death bed and he gathers his children around them he still has all of his faculties and all of his mental strength and enough physical vigor to speak lucidly and clearly and with sufficient volume to be heard

29:14 and he says to his dear children if you have any respect for him who brought you up if you have any gratitude towards him who has labored to feed you to protect you to educate you if you have any confidence in my desire for your highest good then as I leave you give yourselves to loving one another caring for one another and dwelling together to the ends of ends of the earth and to the ends of the earth and to the ends of the earth and to the ends of your days in the bonds of filial love now when a godly father would speak that way to his children and says if you have any regard for the one who brought you into the world does he doubt that he's the one who fathered them no he's appealing in that language to something that they very well know and which they truly believe and when he says if you have any gratitude to me I will give you for my labors to feed and clothe and educate you he doesn't doubt that the very fact that they've dropped all of their concerns of business and family to come from various parts of the country to stand by him in his hour of trial as he passes from this world into the next this is evidence that they honor him they haven't shunted him off

30:41 into a home somewhere to be out of sight and out of mind no no he does not doubt that they honor him but you see what he's doing he's couching his call to family unity and love in a context of what he knows to be their present burning experience now do you follow me now that's exactly what the apostle Paul is doing in this passage he is setting the framework for his call in terms of the assumed existence of the specific spiritual reality and experiences of the Philippians notice them now I'm just going to touch on them in a very cursory manner he says if there is any exhortation or it could be translated consolation in Christ that is if there is any comfort if there is any exhortation that grows out of your union with Christ if there are implications of what it means to be in the church to be in the church to be in the church to be in the church to be in the church to be in the church to be in Christ that lays upon your conscience duty and privilege and the answer in the heart of every Philippian Christian is there surely are exhortations in Christ knowing that we are in Christ for that is our identity according to chapter 1 in verse 1 we are the saints in Christ at Philippi

32:10 to be in Christ is to be a new creature to be a new creature is to live like a new creature when Paul wrote and says if there is any exhortation in Christ every Christian at Philippi says oh there is a world of exhortation growing out of the virtue of our union with Christ if there is secondly he says any consolation or it could be translated persuasive appeal but in either case it grows out of love it is a consolation or comfort which springs from love as it soars and surely one of love's chiefs desire is to comfort or persuasively appeal to its object in time of need or distress who as a parent does not know what it is to appeal in the persuasiveness of love to his children to avoid a certain pitfall or to walk in a path of virtue who does not know what it is as a child to plead with his parents on the basis of the parent's love there is the consolation and the persuasiveness born of love that every Christian knows about particularly when his heart has been touched by the love of God in Christ he says if there is thirdly any fellowship of the Spirit if there is any such commodity as a communion

33:40 that is effected by the bond of the Spirit uniting sinners to Christ and to one another and surely the Philippians knew this they knew what it was to have their hearts bound up in a bundle of true Christian communion with Paul so that his concerns had become their concerns when he says if there is any communion of the Spirit they knew well what that communion was they had and to this present hour were experiencing that very communion with the Apostle Paul though hundreds of miles separated them and he says if there are any tender mercies and compassion same word as we had in chapter 1 in verse 8 which literally means the upper viscera if there are any bowels and mercies is the way the old authorized translates it because the word itself means if there are any inners if you know anything of what it is to have that inward tenderness of heart and then its expression in compassion or mercy and surely everything everyone who has stood broken before the cross of Christ knows what it is to have his inner life touched and broken he knows what it is having been shown mercy from the almighty to desire to show mercy upon others in their need so you see what Paul is doing

The Framework: Persuasive Pressure of a Unique Personal Relationship

35:09 he is appealing setting a framework of his call to unity by appealing to the felt reality religious experience of the Philippians and he says if these things are realities not that he doubts they are but because he is confident they do exist in their hearts he knows that each one is a hook that he can reach into and grab the heart at that very point so the first part of the framework then is these spiritual realities which he assumes to exist and then the second part of the framework looks like this look at it make full my joy and I'm calling this the persuasive pressure of a unique personal relationship the persuasive pressure of a unique personal relationship Paul says if all these things exist in you and I know they do then exercise them to fill my joy to the brink of joy to the brim that would be a literal translation now he'd already told them he had some joy back in chapter 1 he said every time I pray for you I pray with joy verse 4 making my supplication with joy then he went on

36:37 to tell them in spite of the difficulties I've encountered what am I doing verse 18 I'm rejoicing as I anticipate the unknown future what will my frame of mind be he said I will continue to rejoice so you see his cup is not empty it's already got a great measure of joy in it but now he says do you want to fill my cup right up to the brim to the point where if you just jostle it a little bit it's going to spill over in other words you see what Paul is doing he's using the existence of this unique personal relationship with the Philippians as a powerful persuasive pressure to prepare them for his call to unity that's exactly what he's doing if he mentions these four spiritual realities that exist in their hearts he says if indeed they do exist now let them all be exercised to make my joy fill the brim full to the brim then he gives his appeal to unity and to the graces of humility and selflessness essential to the attainment of the attainment of that unity so you see the framework now of his call those two commodities those two materials constitute the framework now what do we learn

Application: Genuine Christian Experience is a Prerequisite for Conduct

38:06 from that and I have but two very simple brief words of exhortation based upon this brief exposition of the framework of his call to unity and the first is this genuine Christian experience is a prerequisite to distinctively Christian conduct genuine Christian experience is a prerequisite now that's just a big word that means you've got to have it before you can get the other you enroll for a course and it says prerequisite English number 102 world history number 103 prerequisite unless you've had those courses you can't take this one well there is a prerequisite to distinctively Christian conduct that is conduct that God himself will accept through Christ as pleasing in his sight and genuine Christian experience is the prerequisite to distinctively Christian conduct as Paul contemplates the conduct to which he will call these Philippians the lever by which he would pry the door in the direction of that conduct is the lever of true Christian experience if

39:35 and then he mentions those four commodities any exhortation in Christ consolation of love fellowship of the spirit tender mercies and compassions make full my joy that ye be and he is assuming that they will not they cannot they will not desire to be what he calls them to be unless they have experienced what he assumes all Christians have experienced that's the problem with some of you you're trying to live a life you don't possess you're trying to live a life you don't possess you're striving to live as in Christ when in reality you are yet in Adam and you cannot simply tack on a few semblances of Christian conduct and call that distinctive Christian experience distinctive Christian experiencing I'm sorry conduct grows out of the genuineness of Christian experience Jesus said make the tree good and then it's fruit good for from within out of the heart proceed the issues of life some of you will make no progress until you face the bitter reality that in all likelihood

41:04 you are yet unconverted dead in trespasses and sins and you live the way you live because you are what you are and you have never in living faith and in the brokenness of true repentance laid hold of Christ as Savior and Sovereign and that's why all of the appeals that go forth from this pulpit and other pulpits do not judge you from where you are there are no hooks in your heart implanted by the fire or the Holy Ghost you can be appealed to by the terrors of God by the love of God by the mercy of God by the kindness of God and nothing seems to hook you and bring you into the way of obedience why? because there are no hooks in your heart I plead with you my unconverted friend if you feel nothing that answers to your deepest experience when you hear such words as fellowship of the Spirit tender mercies and compassion exhortation or consolations in the virtue of union with Christ if those things are just a bunch of words to you my friend in all likelihood you are in a dangerous and frightening position and for those of us who can say though those things do not

42:31 pulses strongly and vigorously within me as I long that they should thank God I do know that there is exhortation growing out of the implications of my union with Christ I do know what it is to have a love that longs to console and to minister to others I do know what it is to have fellowship in the Spirit communion with the people of God that transcends culture and race and background and educational similarities a communion that leaps over every man made barrier and makes me one with the people of God and I do know what it is to have something of the tender mercies the bowels and the compassion where once I was a mass of causticness and cynicism and hardness and hypercritical spirit having been shown mercy I find a disposition to manifest mercy that I never knew before my friend can you say that to the extent that those graces are full and active to that extent you'll feel the power of the pull of a text like this so there's the first great principle

Application: Christian Conduct is Spurred by a Multiplicity of Motives

43:59 that is there and I make it by way of application genuine Christian experience is a prerequisite to distinctively Christian conduct but now hear me in this final word of application genuine Christian Christian conduct is to be spurred by a multiplicity of motives genuine Christian conduct is to be spurred by a multiplicity of motives the motives by which we are drawn into the will of God are many they are not like a one stranded cord but the motives which draw us and at times drive us into the revealed will of God are like a cord made up of many strands and at any given point one strand may pull more forcefully at the level of our consciousness than another and as I was meditating upon this I thought of our Lord what motivated our Lord to do what he did as described in this passage well it wasn't one motive he said the glory of God the glory of God sounds great it just doesn't match the data of scripture this scripture tells us his motive was the joy set before him isn't that what

45:29 the writer to Hebrews says who for the joy set before him endured the cross well you mean his motive was simply the joy that would be his at the end no he had other motives he said I do always the things that please my father well you're doing it for the joy set before you or to please your father he said don't press me into an either or decision I'm doing it for both but then wait a minute I read in my bible he loved the church and gave himself for it that he might present it to himself his motive was the salvation and purification and presentation of the church well did he do it for the joy set before him to please the father or to present the church to himself well you see I could go on and multiply these things and show that in our sinless Lord there was a multiplicity of motives all woven together to draw him into the will of the father and if his sinless heart needed a cord composed of a multiplicity of motives what about your sinful heart and mine and I've heard Christians silly enough to say that a Christian ought to be motivated for one thing alone the glory of God he heard that somewhere or read it somewhere and that's supposed to be very spiritual well Paul never rose to such heights he said there are times I do what I do because I'm afraid if I don't I'll go to hell

46:57 I buffet my body and bring it into subjection lest in preaching to others I myself should be ad hocimus rejected reprobate said if I don't keep a reign upon my lust they'll drive me into hell other times he says this is my motive forgetting the things that are behind I press on to do what that I may know him the power of his resurrection the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death it was communion with Christ there are other times as we saw in chapter one that his motive for wanting to live was to serve others he said I want to stay behind because I know that's more needful you see the multiplicity of motives and at this point Paul gives as a legitimate Christian motive the intimacy of their desire the intimacy of their relationship to Paul and their desire to please him and he says you want to please me you want to make my joy come right up to the top of the brim till it's ready to spill over oh he says then be of one mind you mean Paul you are trying to motivate Christians on the basis of a human tie

48:26 ah but you see it wasn't merely a human tie for the way we treat the servants of Christ who are united to him is regarded by Christ as the way we treat him inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my little ones you have done it unto me so when Paul says make full my joy he's not speaking as a private individual or one who is detached from Christ I the apostle who with you is joined to Christ and your desire to advance my joy is tantamount to advancing the joy of my Lord to whom I am joined and your insensitivity to my joy is your spiritual father is insensitivity to the joy of my Lord through whom and by whose power I begot you in the gospel don't get more spiritual than God is my friend you and I need every single strand of motivation to keep us in the way of holiness every single strand every single one that God has given and here in this passage we see this beautiful I say touching motivation one author stated it strikingly when he said this likening persuasion to a woman he says or he said persuasion herself

49:55 could not persuade more persuasively persuasion herself persuade more persuasively do you feel something of the power of that framework he doesn't just plunk right down on them saying now having talked about your face to the world here's your duty to one another be of one mind no he starts off if like the father with his children around his deathbed like the field general with his cracked troops about to take a strategic place on the battlefield he appeals to their felt experience of the world and then he gives this powerfully persuasive appeal based on their unique relationship he says make full my joy and oh dear child of God may I have what I hope is not temerity but a warranted boldness to appeal to you in that framework this morning as we move on next week God willing to consider the substance of this call to unity within what framework God willing do I appeal to you to be of one mind within what framework do I call upon you not to look upon your own things alone but the things of others here's the framework all of the instincts of the realities

51:24 that you've known and felt and tasted by virtue of your union with Christ does not every vital valid Christian experience demand that you seek to be one with every other person to whom God has given the same vital and valid Christian experience do you see the incongruity of God taking a sinner and drawing the sinner into union with himself to put up a barrier between yourself and one whom God has received so I appeal on the basis of everything that you know and feel in the realm of Christian experience then may I be so bold as to appeal on the basis of what I trust is a peculiar relationship of love on behalf of all of your elders make full our joy what makes us full of joy not when you all get promotions and are wealthy not when you all go have your face lifted and nose reshaped and become handsome or beautiful what makes our joy full what we see in this passage worked out in your lives to see you from such a diversity of backgrounds and temperaments

52:53 and cultures and inclinations and everything else that could fragment us to see you of one mind one heart through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind each esteeming other better than himself not looking to his own things but the things of another do you want to send us to our graves happy men then be of the same mind be of the same mind count no case too great to pay to press on in Christian unity and you say pastor is that a biblical motive just to make our elders happy you bet your boots it's a biblical motive a biblical motive now if you're a Christian you'll have other motives but that's one of them may God grant that it shall exert its persuasive pressure upon all of our hearts let us pray our father we confess in your presence that we marvel again and again at the richness of the word of God we thank you that within its pages within the lines

54:21 given to us are to be found these lofty these high and glorious mysteries of our faith and yet we thank you for that cord that ties them to the most practical mundane responsibilities and duties Lord help us to think biblically and then give us grace to walk biblically we pray for those amongst us who cannot perform this duty because they have no true experience in Christ give them no rest until they flee from their sins and find refuge in the Lord Jesus we pray for any of your children who've been crippled in their Christian walk because they've been trying to find some one great super motive that would stand them in good stead in every situation Lord may their folly be made known to them this morning by the word and may they begin to walk as never before with joy being drawn into your will by that multi-stranded cord of biblical motives seal the word to our hearts may it bear fruit even unto everlasting life we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen