The Key to a Healthy Church

PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

COMMENT:

I so love digging into Paul's writing and preaching. And the reason that is is because Paul saturates everything he writes in the Gospel. There is no command given to a Church without it first being based on and fueled by the Gospel. This passage is no exception. Paul is going to give commands for how we ought to live, but first and foremost he writes, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit..."

Don't pass over that first part too quickly. "If you have any encouragement in CHRIST.... any comfort from LOVE....any participation in the SPIRIT...." These are things first and foremost that are first received by you the Body of Christ! As I always harp on, everything starts with what we receive from Christ in the Gospel. Only after we are saturated in being dependent receivers, can we move on to the next part....

"Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." Here's the goal: Unity in the Gospel. That's the action Paul commands us to carry out. Now how do we go about doing that?

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." This instruction is THE surefire way to unity in the gospel. Can you imagine what would happen if this was said of the individuals of our Church body? "There's a church where people consider others more significant than themselves." How counter-cultural! How magnetic! Oh, that God would make me a person that wants to consider others interests before my own! Let's pray that this would be the case VCC...

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Erick

RECEIVING....GROWING....GOING....