A life Worthy of The Gospel

As I said, brother, dear sister, Philippians 1, we're going to be reading together from verse 27 through chapter 2, verse 11. We're going to be considering today living a life worthy of the gospel. Let us read together the Word of the Lord, Philippians 1, verse 27. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm absent," the Apostle Paul says, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him, but also suffer for His sake. engage in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. 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 for selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." This is the reading of God's Word. Amen. As I said, my dear brother and sister, I want us to focus our attention on that statement that the Apostle gives us there in verse 27 that he's, of course, going to expound in this portion of the Scripture that we have read when he says that we are to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. He says, let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

He calls the Philippians and, of course, he's also calling the Christians to live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In simple words, that the life of the Christian should correspond to the value of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you actually think about the value of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and what this scripture says about the value of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will realize that the standard to which we are supposed to live is actually very high. The Scripture says, the same Apostle Paul says, that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1. Or that it is the gospel of God that manifests His love, Romans 5, 1 John 3-4.

It is the gospel of the Lord that manifests and demonstrates the love that God has had for His people. That is the standard to which we are supposed to live our lives. Actually, this is a very powerful statement, the one that the Apostle gives us here, because it literally means that we are supposed to behave as citizens of the kingdom of the gospel. When the Apostle says, let your manner of life, he's referring to a behavior of a citizen. He's speaking to the Philippians who lived in Philippi, and as you know, this was a Roman colony, and their citizenship to the Roman Empire was something so important that defined their identity.

So Paul says to the Philippian church, you are to behave. as citizens, not of the Roman Empire, you are to behave as citizens of this kingdom, the kingdom of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This apostle is going to expand this idea of being a citizen of the kingdom of Christ. In chapter three, verse 20, if you move your eyes very quickly there to draw a Philippians chapter three, verse 20, the apostle is going to expound on that idea that he started in verse 27 in chapter one, 320, when he says, But our citizenship, this is the same idea of 127, but our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, from heaven, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle is telling us in 127 that we Christians, specifically the people of Philippi, that we are to behave as citizens of a kingdom, of a city, not of men, but the city of God, the kingdom of God, the citizens of the people of God, namely the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our type of life, the way that we behave both in the secret and in the private place or in the public place is supposed to be in alignment with the rules and the stipulations of this kingdom that is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the question that flows from there is what is that life? How is that life supposed to be manifested? How are we supposed to live in a manner that is worthy of this gospel, of this city of God, of this kingdom of God?

What is that that is required of us Christians to live according to the word of this message that God has given us in Christ Jesus? Someone may come and say, well, we need faith. It is because by faith we become forgiven, justified, we become the children of God. So we need faith. Faith is the requirement that we need so that we can live worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is by faith that we're forgiven. It is by faith that we become the children of God. We're taken from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. And we become citizens, not of this world only, but citizens of the kingdom of God. And it is true that someone may say, well, it is not only faith, it is also obedience because faith without works is dead.

So you need obedience also. It's not only about faith. You need to work your salvation. You need to show the work of the Lord in your life. So you need to produce this obedience to the commandments of the Lord.

just as we obey the commandments of a country or the city where we live and where we are earthly citizens, so we are also to obey, someone may say, the requirements and the laws and the stipulations of a heavenly kingdom to which we also belong spiritually. And that is also true. Faith without works is dead. But someone might also say, well, it is not only faith and obedience, but we also need fruit. The Spirit of God should produce fruit in us, and that is actually going to be the sign that we are living a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You have obedience, you have faith, you have obedience, and then you have the fruit of the Spirit. You have joy and faithfulness and patience. All of these manifestations of the Spirit will become the token that will point us to that person, and we can come to the conclusion that they're living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone might come and say, well, it is not only faith and obedience and the fruit of the Spirit, but also the proclamation of the gospel, right? If it was the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the message that saved us and made us citizens of this new kingdom.

So then also, if we want to live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to be gospel proclaimers. We are to, by faith and in obedience in the fruit of the Spirit, we are to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of those answers are true. But the Apostle, instead of pointing us to faith and obedience, and also pointing us to the fruit of the Spirit, the Gospel proclamation, which he does in other sections of this letter, he points us to something very important. Unity.

unity among those who belong to the kingdom of God. He says in verse 27, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I might hear of you, Philippians, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." The Apostle says, whether I come and see you or I don't, that the report that I might hear of you Philippians is that you're living a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the worthiness of your life or the evidence that you're living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is that you're standing firm. in one spirit, one soul, one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, that when they see you, you are together, that you as citizens of the heavenly kingdom, that you as children of God, when the outsider sees you, that you are together, that there is oneness, that there is one accord, that the Spirit of God that is working in you will produce not only faith, Not only obedience, not only fruit of the Spirit in each one of you and gospel proclamation, but that you as the body of Christ, as the collective of the people of God, as those who are citizens not of this world, but citizens of the city of God, that you are one and that you are standing together, togetherness.

the oneness of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, one that is not accomplished in the flesh, but one that is accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. How do we live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, by faith. Yes, through obedience. Yes, by bearing fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, by proclaiming the gospel, but also in the oneness of the Church. the collective and the fellowship of the saints, those who have been saved and loved by God now are united by the same Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle is going to give us four important characteristics of that unity there in verse 27. There in the ESV, we have them as a standing firm. one spirit, one mind, and striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

This oneness that the apostle expects to see in the Philippians is comprised, or at least as he's describing it here, by these four elements. Standing firm, one spirit, one mind, and striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. When the apostle says standing firm, he's using a military language. the type of language that was used for the army to be together, soldiers coming together, either prepare for the attack or prepare for the defense. This is the language of people, these soldiers of the kingdom of heaven coming together to be one with the other, ready to advance or ready to defend.

When he says one spirit, of course, he's speaking about the spiritual nature of the church. Because those who belong to the church are not necessarily those who are seated in the chairs, but are necessarily those who have the Spirit of God that has united them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the nature of the people of God is spiritual and not fleshly nor external. It is when the grace of the Lord comes to a person, that person has faith, that person has been inserted by the Spirit in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and they become the people of God. So the community of God is to be in a spiritual community, not only an external or fleshly community.

We love one another and we come together in a fleshly or physical way. But now which unites the body is the unity that we have in Christ Jesus. We are to be united in one spirit, not only one spirit, but also one mind. If the Spirit of Christ is among us, He's progressively going to work among us to give us this oneness of mind, this oneness of perception, this oneness of soul, literally to what He says there. The truth of God is going to make His people one, and hence, We're going to be striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

The depth of the unity that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is meant to have is such that cannot be accomplished by the flesh or by religion. It is only something that happens through and by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the message of the gospel. How do we live? a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only by faith, not only by obedience, not only by fruit, not only by proclaiming the gospel, but by unity and oneness.

This unity that we have here before us is so important for the Apostle Paul that he's going to tell us that is the foundation upon which the church responds to tribulation. He says in verse 28, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God." This unity, this love that the saints are supposed to have for one another, this standing firm, this one spirit, this one mind, this striving together for the gospel, this unity of the church is of such importance that the way that the church faces persecution and their opponents depends upon this unity that the church is supposed to have. The apostle using the same language and referring to the church in Thessalonica is going to say something very powerful.

So come with me very quickly there to 1 Thessalonians. It's actually 2 Thessalonians 1, where the apostle is going to use the same type of language of these people that are living in this kingdom of God, that they are citizens of this kingdom of God. They have love, they have faith, they have unity in one another, and it's the unity that they have, the basis upon which they can face persecutions. 2 Thessalonians 1, pay attention to verse 3. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers.

This is Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy saying these things about the Thessalonians. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, brothers and sisters, as he's right, because your faith is growing abundantly, not only their faith, but pay attention, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. These, their persecutions and their sufferings, is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering, since indeed God considers just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. That is that the love and the faith that the Thessalonians had, one for the other, this unity that they had, living their life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, this unity was the foundation, it was the means by which they were facing their persecutions.

The Lord says you're going to suffer, but for you it's a token of your salvation. And that you remain standing together, that you remain as one spirit, as one mind, that you are together, that is a token of your salvation. But for those who oppose you, it's a token of their judgment. and a token of their destruction. That's why when the apostle in Philippians 1, if we return to our passage, continues, he's going to speak about those sufferings that are the result of those persecutions in verse 29 with a famous verse in which he says, Brethren, unity, the oneness of the church, the oneness of the church is that which will tell us that we're living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do I know if I'm living a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not only I have genuine faith in the Lord, not only if I obey His commandments, not only if I bear fruit, not only if I proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in me, if in me, there is a desire that has been given by the Spirit of God to be one with the brethren. to be one with the brothers and sisters. I can not live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ if in me there is not a desire to love those who have been loved by the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is the representation of unity.

He came to die to save his people so that he will be united to him. So those who have the spirit of Christ are meant to be, desire always to be one with one another, to love But why? Why is oneness, why is unity an evidence, a sign that we are living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? I want to give you three reasons of why a person that by the grace of the Lord is pursuing unity with the brothers and sisters He's living a life that is worthy the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Three reasons from this text that we have from Chapter two, verse one through 11.

I want to give you three reasons why the heart of a person that by God's grace is pursuing Unity and fellowship with the brethren is a person that is living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us start with the first one. First, the first reason why pursuing unity is a sign that you're living a life worthy of the gospel is because unity is or pursuing unity is a sign that you are a genuine believer. Pay attention and that door is going to crash. Pay attention to Chapter 2, the first two verses of Chapter 2.

Pay attention to this. So the Apostle says, if there is any encouragement in Christ, pay attention to the ifs. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit. All of that is if. If there is any participation in the Spirit, if there is any affection, and if there is any sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

The Apostle uses the if in a very critical and very crucial way there in verse one. If there is any union with Jesus Christ that gives to your soul any encouragement to obey the commandment of the Apostle, if there is any comfort of love, and it's very likely that Paul is thinking about God the Father here. If there is any comfort from love that comes only from God that is in you, if there is any participation or if there's any fellowship, if there is any connection with the Holy Spirit, if there is any affection and sympathy in you, then you hear my voice because it's not my voice, the apostle says. It's the voice of God. Then fulfill my joy.

In other words, obey what I'm saying. And that is that you are to be of the same mind, having the same love, and being in full accord and of one mind. The spirit of the Christian is going to pursue to be with those who have been saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that is the center of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unity among brothers and sisters and fellowship among brothers and sisters is not one thing that is contingent upon external things. But the desire to be united with the brethren is something supernatural that happens by virtue of the power of the Holy Spirit in us, because that is the gospel.

There was nothing appealing in us sinners. There was nothing worthy in us sinners for God to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross for us. The glories of the gospel is that God the Father sent His Son when we did not deserve, and there was nothing appealing in us, and He decided to come, die upon the cross, to be once for all united with His people. The love of God was manifested, and that he wedded, or that he married a bride that did not deserve to have a groom. Groom is the word that you have, right?

A groom. He did not need to do that for His church. He did not need to do that for us, but the gospel manifests the love in such a way. How are we going to say then that a person who has the spirit of that God who sent His only begotten Son to die for them, to rescue them when they did not deserve, how are we going to say that if that spirit abides in a person, then that person does not want to have any fellowship with other Christians? We cannot say that the Spirit of Christ is in that person simply because when the Spirit of Christ and of God abides in a person, then that person is no longer seeking for their own interests, as we're going to see later on.

But then that person always opening his eyes or her eyes and her heart to know that life is not about being satisfied in my own, but that my life is to be spent for the one who loved me and for those whom he loved, namely his people and his church. So then fellowship and unity is going to be a natural manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of a person that is a Christian. Christian. Are we going to like each other perfectly? Of course not.

But that is not the basis of which we have for having fellowship with one another. It's Christ Jesus and the message of the gospel. It's the unity that we have in the Son of God. So hence the apostle says, if there is any encouragement in you. if there is any participation of the Spirit, if there is any comfort of love, if there is any sympathy, if there is any of those things that Christians are supposed to have, if there is any of those spiritual, valuable things that you cannot produce in and of yourself, but that the Spirit of God gives.

If you have any of those things, then fulfill my joy by obeying this. Be of one mind, be of one accord, be one as the people of God. Because when you are one, then you are living a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But please allow me just simply here, and we still have a little bit of time, so please bear with me. Let me just simply go a little bit deeper on this one.

Why is pursuing unity a sign of a genuine salvation? Why is that a person is in their heart desiring, pursuing unity and oneness with those who have been saved by the grace of God? A sign that they have been generally saved by the grace of the Lord. Why am I saying or how can we know from the Scriptures that it's an actual sign, a work of God, that a person does not want to be just simply a Christian and disconnect from the body, but rather that a person, because of the presence of Christ in them, wants to be with brothers and sisters and to live their Christian life in the context of the oneness of the people of God? Why is that?

The answer is this, and I'm going to show you from the Scriptures. Because from eternity past to eternity future, God determined that one of the key characteristics of the work of redemption was going to be unity. That He was going to unite all things in Christ Jesus, and that was going to be the consummation of the history of redemption. unity, bringing things together, and union is one of the key characteristics of the work of redemption, opposite to what sin does. Sin separates, sin breaks, sin destroys, And that happened in the Garden.

Sin destroys and separates. When sin entered into the world, the first thing that happened was separation, lack of fellowship between God and humans in Adam and Eve. And then when history started or continued better, then there was sin and sin produced separation. Cain was sent to the east of the Garden of Eden, separation because sin produces separation. And then we can see that sin continues to produce separation in the creation of the nations and Babel, whatever you call it.

There's these nations and these different languages. There is division and there is separation. But then God, in His purpose of bringing unity through redemption, He chooses a nation out of these divided nations, the people of Israel. And that is through this history of redemption that now he's going to join the Israelites to the rest of the Gentiles. And then this union is not going to happen through the law, but it's going to happen through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then now comes and out of these two is going to make one man. And now by faith in Jesus Christ, people from all tribes and people from all nations are going to be united. through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Unity and union is a key characteristic of the work of redemption. So someone who has the Spirit of Christ in them cannot have an opposite desire than to be united with those whom the Lord has saved.

I'm speaking too fast, but I hope that you understand what I'm just saying here, brethren. Please come to Ephesians. I'm very excited about this message, so I'm really sorry about that. Come to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter one.

Unity, on unity brethren, unity, it is a key characteristic of redemption. I hope that you know the verse that I'm going to point you to, but read with me in Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one, verse seven. Ephesians chapter one, verse seven. In him, that is Christ Jesus, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.

Now just pay attention to verse nine, please. Making known to us the mystery. Now keep that word. Making known to us the mystery of His will. And he made it known according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, speaking of the future, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

I am saying that one of the key characteristics of the history of redemption, of the purpose of redemption of God, is to unite all things. No division, no separation. That is what sin does. Christ brings unity. This mystery of which we have just heard there in verse 9, the Apostle is going to speak to us in chapter 3.

Come with me to chapter 3, verse 4. Chapter 3, verse 4. This is the mystery. If you want to memorize this, this is the mystery of Christ. that the Apostle speaks in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 3, verse 4, this is the mystery of Christ. When you read this, and the word there is in the past tense, so it's not read. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into, pay attention, the mystery of Christ. What is the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in older generations, but He has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit? The mystery is this, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

What is the mystery? The mystery that was hidden from the ages past and that has now been revealed to the apostles and the prophets is that these Gentiles, that once they were separated, now they're going to be united to the people of Israel in the person of Jesus Christ. Not separation, but unity of this unity. He has already spoken to us in chapter two verse 11. Bear with me and let us just read there what the puzzle says about this unity.

Remember what he says in Philippians chapter one. Leave a life worthy of the gospel will be citizens of the kingdom of God. Verse 11. Therefore, Ephesians 2.11, Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the uncircumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, separated opposite to being united. You were separated from Christ. alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he that is Christ himself is our peace, who has made us both, which were there, one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

A dividing wall of hostility is of the flesh. A work of oneness is the work of the spirit. 15, by abolishing the law of commandments, expressing ordinances that he may create in himself, that is in Christ, one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and may reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. For through Him, that is Christ, for through Christ we both have access in one Spirit to the Father, one Son, one Spirit, one Father, one people, one faith, one baptism.

He will say later on in chapter 4. Verse 19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens. Remember, citizens of Kevin? You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom Christ, the whole structure, being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Brethren, The Spirit of God operating in a Christian will produce a God-given desire to the buildup of the body, spiritually speaking, and to bring the saints to be together. Togetherness is a unity. This togetherness is a vital aspect of the redemptive work of God. Contrary to what sin does. Sin separates, sin breaks, sin destroys, and sin brings people and things into different directions.

Satan comes with error to divide and to separate. God comes with truth to unite, to heal, and to build. This is the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the unity of the Church is not the result of external matters, but rather the unity of the Church is the result of the work of the Spirit through the truth of the Scriptures, working in the saints, in the hearts of people, bringing them together one with the other. I said, why is pursuing unity?

A sign that a person is living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? I said first, because pursuing unity is a sign that the person is a genuine believer. Because unity is what Christ did when he came to die upon the cross, to be united to a bride that does not deserve, and because unity and togetherness is a key characteristic of the redemptive work of God from eternity past to eternity future. Let us return to our text, Philippians chapter 2. Second, pursuing unity is a sign that we are living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because pursuing unity shows that we have humility of the Spirit rather than pride of the flesh.

Pay attention to verse 3 and 4. Do nothing from selfish ambition. Of course, this is at the back of when the apostle has said, let us just read to complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, togetherness, unity. Now he's going to instruct us in verse three, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. that in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Four, let each of you look not only to his own interest, it's not that I'm speaking only to male, it is to everyone, to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. When the Spirit of Jesus Christ is in us, He produces in us no rules or commandments, when the Spirit of Christ in us produces the character of Jesus Christ Himself. And Jesus Christ was humble, as the Apostle will continue to say in the other verses. So then that means that humility is a sign of a person that is pursuing unity. If a person does not have a desire to be with the brothers and sisters, or to be oneness, or in one mind, one accord, then that is not the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Because then fellowship is contingent upon external matters, and not what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. Why is pursuing unity a sign that a person is living a life worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because doing so proves that that person is living in the humility of Christ and not in the pride of the flesh. And please just simply pay careful attention in these two verses, three and four, that the way that the apostle presents humility is not with what we say, right? But rather with the things that we?

Do, because speaking about being humble or pretending to be humble with the things that I say is very easy. But being humble in the things that I do is different because when I do things, I do not have control over the intentions, the real intentions of what I do certain things. So he says in verse three, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. When a person does not have the humility of Christ in their hearts, their heart's naturally going to leave them to do things for their own good. They can disguise things with their countenance or with their words, but their hearts are not going to lie.

When a person is doing things for their selfish ambition, for their conceit, the intention of the heart is not going to hide that. When a person is counting themselves as more significant than others, in the depths of the heart of that person, their heart is going to testify that that person thinks that they are better than the rest, because that is the normal manifestation of the flesh. It is only the Spirit of Jesus Christ that counts upon a person that says, you're nothing, and it's good that you're nothing. because He came to save you and to redeem you because you're a sinner. And the worth of your life is only insofar as you live for Christ, because this life is not going to offer you nothing.

Anything you're going to obtain from this life that is of eternal value. The only thing that you're going to receive of eternal value is found in your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And you being nothing, you have received the greatest blessing, that is to be one with Jesus Christ. And in that, you have the greatest gift that a person can receive, to be one with the Savior. So being one with the Savior is such a great gift.

Why am I going to be pursuing the crimes that this life offers and then fighting against each other for those things? No, brethren, the Spirit of Christ will operate in a person humility, considering others as better than themselves, and then henceforth, because of the Spirit of Christ that produces humility, let each of you look not only for his own interest, but also the interest of others." The interest of others. I am concerned not so much for the advancement of my own things, but I'm concerned also for the advancement of my brothers and sisters, both physically, emotionally, spiritually, that my life might be an instrument in the hands of the Lord for the advancement in conformity to Christ of my brothers and sisters. Not only my own interest, people are not here to serve me and for me to be the master.

I'm not here just to be the one that is exalted. I'm here to serve because you know who came to serve? Jesus Christ came to serve. Pursuing unity is a sign of the presence of the humility of Christ in the heart of a person, something that cannot be produced in the flesh, something that cannot be produced with homeschooling, something that cannot be produced with a school or with a curriculum or with a certain diet or food or cannot be produced living in a certain country or not living in the city or living in the mountains. It cannot be produced that way.

The flesh cannot produce the traits of Christ. Only the Spirit of God can do so. And then thirdly, and finally, and with this I finish, the reason why pursuing unity is a sign that a person is living a life that is worthy of the gospel is, of course, because that person has the spiritual mind of Christ. Pay attention to verse 5, speaking about this humility in pursuit of unity. Verse 5, have this mind among yourselves.

which is yours in Christ Jesus. And I suppose that I should just simply read the text and let the text speak for itself. Verse five, have this mind among yourselves, brethren. which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

to the glory of God the Father. Why should I pursue unity with my brothers and sisters? Why should I look to my brothers and sisters and say, I'm pursuing your interest and you're better than I am. I'm not going to put myself in a throne and a high position in which you are my servant, but why should I pursue unity and compassion and oneness and one mind with my brothers and sisters? Because Him who dwelt in the highest glory, the Son of God, in order to save me and forgive me and give me eternal life from all the horrible things that I've done and had in my mind, came down not only to be like me, but even worse than that.

He died and he died at death of a cross. He came to the lowest part of humility, of humiliation from the highest places of glory. He came to the lowest places of humiliation so that in doing so, by dying that death, He will take me and His people and His church to then be exalted once again at the right hand of the Father. Because that place where Jesus Christ is as victorious, as the one who defeated death, is also the place in which the church is. Because the church is united to Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.

Just as Eve was taken from the side of Adam, so the church was in the side of Jesus Christ in eternity past, and this church is now here present. And one day, the final consummation of the church and Jesus Christ will come, and then the church will be exalted like the Lord Jesus Christ. priests and kings in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came, he humbled himself and he died so that when I look to my brothers and sisters, I will not look myself as if I was in the pedestal of, you know, exaltation, but rather I will see the condescension of Jesus Christ and the compassion of Christ. And I will pursue unity with my brethren, not because of who they are, but rather because of what Christ Jesus has done for them.

The Apostle Paul says something very important about this mind of Christ in 1 Corinthians 2. Let me just take your attention to 1 Corinthians 2 of this mind of which I'm speaking, this mind of Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 2. And I don't know if you paid attention. I hope that you did.

But when I presented this point, it said the spiritual mind of Christ Jesus. Because the things that I have just said are not fleshly discerned. are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2. Pay attention to this.

2.14 1 Corinthians 2.14 The natural person, or the fleshly person, the person that is in the flesh, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Now, it does not mean that they don't understand the meaning of the words, right?

It's that they don't understand the depths of what it means. Verse 15, the spiritual person judges all things, but he's himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord as to instruct him? But we, the Christians in the church, have the mind of Christ. What does the apostle mean?

The apostle means that we have received the Spirit of God that is the one that points us to the things that are spiritual because they are spiritually discerned, which is what the apostle has said in the previous section of this passage. The things of Christ cannot be discerned by the mind or by the flesh. They can only be discerned by the Spirit of Christ that is given to us. And it's only the Spirit of Christ, the one that can form in us a sense of humility such that we want to live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only by having faith, Not only by being obedient, not only by bearing fruit, not only by proclaiming the gospel, but also by pursuing unity with the brothers and sisters. Because in seeking unity, I'm not only showing that the Spirit of God is working in me, that purpose that He had from eternity past, and that He's going to bring to fulfillment.

But I also show that the mind of Christ, the humble mind of Christ, is working in me in such a way that now I see my brothers and sisters as the object of love, not because of who they are, but rather because of what Christ Jesus has done for them and for the people of God. This is the glory of the Church, brethren. This is the glories of what it is to be one with another. Not glories that are produced because of our personalities, but glories that are only produced by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How are we going to do this?

How are we going to pursue this type of unity and living a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? And let me just simply point you to a final verse that my brother mentioned to me before we started. Go to 1 Thessalonians 5, please. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and we could go to Ephesians chapter 4, but let's just finish with this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And we're just going to read this verse 18. 5.18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Again, 18.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. The spirit of thankfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ is a spirit of humility. Because when I'm not thankful for the will of the Lord, I'm entitled to believe, or I just simply have a spirit of entitlement in which I believe that I don't have what I deserve. Every person that is seated in front and behind us and next to us He's a person that the Lord has placed in His decree and in His providence and in His sovereignty. And independently of the circumstances, we are to be thankful for the work of the Lord.

Always thankful in all circumstances. Because if there's one reason why the Lord has placed a person temporarily or next to us in our lives, it's for a particular reason. And we are not to be unthankful as to think, I'm going to look for my own interest and not for the interest of others, but we are to be thankful in all circumstances, and to count the blessing of what it is to have brothers and sisters around us, and together try to live a life that is worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the glory of the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Amen? Amen.