Becoming a Church that Cares (Philippians 2:1-11)

• I return this morning from my holiday with mixed feelings
• they’re mixed because I enjoyed sleeping in, swimming, tubing, and other summer activities, and I’m sad that summer is over
• and yet I return with a sense of enthusiasm over returning to this church, a church I love greatly
• I’m excited too because I believe some exciting things lie ahead
• I wonder how many people share my enthusiasm about the church?
• I wonder if we handed out bumper stickers that said, “Honk if you love the church,” how noisy would it be on the street?
• no matter what happens, I can’t get past the fact that the church is the bride of Christ, purchased with his blood, and his chosen people, the objects of his love
• the church is the very institution ordained by God to be a vehicle of his love until Christ returns
• no matter what happens, no matter how humble it might appear, no matter how troubled it at times may be, I can honestly say that I love the church
• this morning we could list some problems with churches in general and with our church in particular
• but anyone can identify problems
• what we’re going to do is to identify solutions
• I’m not exaggerating when I say that I love the church so much I would give my life to see her increase in strength and vigor
• my dream is that the church would be a vibrant community of God’s people worshiping him, caring for each other, growing in faith, serving God using their gifts, and winning other people to Christ
• one of the keys to this, I believe, is that the church – not just our church but every church – become a place where loving, authentic relationships permeate every aspect of church life
• where honest, loving, authentic, and caring relationships become the norm
• where people come in and say, “Wow, that’s love!”
• one of the startling things that Jesus said is found in John 13:
• (John 13:34) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
• (John 13:35) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
• Jesus commands us to love one another, just as he has loved us
• now think about it: Jesus has lavished his love on us indiscriminately, and he says we are to love one another in just the same way
• so prominent is this love to be that Jesus says it will be the identifying mark of his followers: they love one another
• now think about it: Jesus didn’t say we would be identified by our buildings or steeples; he didn’t say we would be known by the Bibles we carried or our public prayers; we wouldn’t even be identified by theology
• he said that people would know that we are his disciples if we love one another
• one of my dreams is that the church would be known as a place of love, a place that cares
• my dream is that every person who comes into a worship service at any true church would immediately sense the warmth of fellowship that exists there
• my dream is that people who otherwise would have nothing in common would be bound together with a love that can only be explained in supernatural terms
• just imagine how attractive such a fellowship could be!
• this morning we’re beginning a 50-Day spiritual adventure called “The Church You’ve Always Longed For: What You Can Do to Make It Happen”
• our theme this morning is “Work at becoming a caring family”
• I think the choice of this theme as the first one is correct
• if we’re going to be the church we’ve all longed for, one of the most important things we can do is to develop our capacity to care for each other
• in Philippians 2, Paul gives the people in the church family at Philippi some advice on how this can happen
• what Paul wrote to Philippi equally applies to us
• we are God’s family as well
• [UNDERSTANDING OUR PRIVILEGED POSITION]
• Paul assumes some things about the church at Philippi that I think we can assume about our church as well
• first, he assumes that they would find encouragement in the fact that they were united with Christ
• “2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ”
• Christ is the glue that holds us together
• also, as believers, they were at the receiving end of God’s love; this is a great comfort to God’s people, knowing that Christ loves us
• “if any comfort from his love”
• this is especially important for those of us who are lacking love in other areas of our lives
• we’re greatly comforted by the fact that no matter who else may not love us, Jesus loves us
• third, Paul assumes that because of the indwelling Spirit within each of God’s children, they had a fellowship or bond that held them together
• “if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion”
• he just assumes that there’s already a sense of fellowship and compassion between us, because we have the Spirit within us, and because we’re part of the same family
• if this is true of us, the apostle Paul writes in verse 2:
• (Philippians 2:2) then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
• Paul urges them to become a loving, caring community of believers; the family that God wants us to be
• “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care,” Paul writes, “then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends” (The Message)
• [LIFE-CHANGING, FAMILY TRANSFORMING PRINCIPLES]
• let’s look at some life-changing, family-transforming principles
• Philippians 2:3 says:
• (Philippians 2:3) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
• it’s amazing how easy it is to get caught up with ourselves and the things we want to do
• from time to time we need a reminder to focus on others more than ourselves, and to stop being so self-absorbed
• Paul says that two things get in the way of caring for others: selfishness, and trying to make a good impression on others
• these are the mortal enemies of unity and harmony in the church
• the first, selfishness, is listed as one of the “acts of the sinful nature” in Galatians 5:20
• it’s putting our interests ahead of the interests of other people
• does anyone here struggle with selfishness?
• too often we can get sidetracked with trying to make a good impression on others
• we’re concerned with how we appear and how we sound
• this is our natural tendency
• now, put together a number of people who, as one person says, are pushing their way to the front and sweet-talking their way to the top, and what do you have?
• the very opposite of what Christ intended for the church
• instead, Paul says in verse 3: “in humility consider others better than yourselves”
• this is a life-changing, family-transforming principle
• imagine what would happen in our homes and churches if for one day we all thought of everybody else as better than ourselves
• imagine if we all start trying to do more for each other than anyone is doing for us
• imagine if at home we started fighting, in a healthy way, for the privilege of cooking the meals, setting and clearing the table, and so forth
• imagine if at church we forgot about trying to make an impression and getting our own way, and instead focused on others and how to serve them
• the irony is that when people are like this to us, they make a huge difference in our lives
• when we come across a person who is free of pride and selfishness, and is focused on servi ng us, we are literally humbled and impacted by that person
• you can probably think of someone who has had this type of power in your life – someone who had a positive, significant influence on you
• they respected you as a person, they loved you, they were caring and encouraging – and they caused you to grow
• this is what we are to be to others within the body of Christ
• verse four gives us another principle:
• (Philippians 2:4) Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• we have no problems looking after our own interests
• it’s obvious sometimes we don’t even have the foggiest idea what the interests of others might be!
• we need to listen to others and find out what the interests of others might be
• in the church, it means trying to understand others, and deferring to their needs
• it’s refusing to be obsessed with getting our own way, and forgetting ourselves long enough to focus on others
• it’s listening and deferring to others
• it’s easy to say we love other people, or that we’re a caring church, but it’s another thing to think of others as better than ourselves and to put their interests ahead of our own
• imagine a church that fulfilled this commandment to love one another, to honor one another above ourselves, to live in harmony with one another, and to be willing to associate with people of lower position
• that’s what the Bible describes as a caring church
• that’s the sort of church that I dream about
• the real key to all of this is to have the attitude of Jesus
• the verses that follow in Philippians 2:5-11 describe that wonderful, familiar truth of how God as Jesus humbled himself in obedience to become one of us
• and then as we all know, he became sin for us and died for us
• now, if Christ was willing to do all that for us, shouldn’t we at least be willing to care for the others who are our brothers and sisters in Christ?
• that’s the way it was in the early church
• read about it this week as you do your adventure journals and look at Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35
• they weren’t perfect, but they were characterized as a group that loved each other
• that’s how it has been in my life as well
• I wouldn’t be here this morning if it hadn’t been for the influence of a number of people who loved me in the way I described
• a Sunday school teacher who taught me for years – every time I graduated to a new class, he graduated too
• he had a lot of problems in his life, but he loved me and he cared for me
• a youth group leader who taught great lessons, but whose greatest contribution to my life was one-on-one
• he took me out and treated me as an object of his love
• he cared for me in a godly way
• a seminary teacher who encouraged me, a pastor-friend who has shown me what true friendship is about, and I could go on to name some of you – these are the people who have shown me what Christian love is
• and that is how we are to love one another
• we’re going to close with a prayer that is found in your bulletins and in the adventure journal
• the prayer is part of the action step that goes with this week’s theme in the 50-Day adventure
• the prayer is appropriate, I think, in our efforts to become a caring church
• would you open your bulletins and pray it with me?

Lord,
I long to be part of a caring church family,
But often I’m not sensitive to what people are really saying,
Please teach me to listen with your ears of compassion.
I pray for [a need you’ve heard recently].
Lord, help me respond with a heart that cares the way you do.
Amen.