Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Joy of Unity
(Philippians 2:1-4)
While the overriding theme of Philippians is joy, Paul emphasized the importance of Christian unity as an essential factor to finding joy. Those who have had the shared experience of Christ’s love and comfort and who have known fellowship with the indwelling Spirit of God should, in Paul’s thinking, worship and serve in harmony with each other (1). Paul even states that his personal joy hinged upon knowing the love and like-mindedness of the saints at Philippi (2).
Two factors, when consistently practiced within a congregation, promote godly unity. The first factor is godly motives. Nothing, Paul said, should be done with the purpose of creating unrest or promoting self within the church (3a). When we honestly test our intentions by the standard of godly motive, we insure peace within the church. If we fail to honestly evaluate our motives, the real reason we’re doing what we’re doing, we open ourselves to inadvertent use by Satan himself. Motives are important!
Humility is the second factor that promotes godly unity within the church. Paul leaves no doubt as to the practical workings of humility. Humility is not walking around like a beaten dog. Rather, humility begins with a modest and meek mindset that manifests itself when we view others as better than ourselves (3b). Simply put, genuine humility gives sincere deference to the feelings and opinions of others. Humility magnifies the good and minimizes the bad. Humility sees the best in others while recognizing the worst in self. As you can see, right motives and real humility can not help but to produce heart-felt unity!
