Philippians 10. Why Pursue Unity? Phil. 4:1-3. Dr. Andy Woods

you all right well good morning everybody nice to see some friendly faces out there well let's take our Bibles if we could and open them to the book of Philippians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians go eat popcorn or God's Electric Power Company that's just an easy way to keep the books of your Bible straight we are in Philippians chapter 4 taking a look this morning at verses 1 through 3 and the title of our message this morning is why pursue unity in question mark and here we're dealing with unity not with the world we have no unity with the world but why pursue unity within the body of Christ and what I would like to do after just kind of a brief reminder of where we are in the book of Philippians is to march through verses 1 through 3 with you this morning and then once we do that I want to kind of wrap up by giving you four observations concerning the concept or the pursuit of unity within the body of Christ Paul the Apostle of course as you will recall as we've been moving through the book of Philippians verse by verse writes a book from Rome in prison to the Philippian church and this is not a kind of book where he's trying to get people saved this rather is the kind of book where he is trying to help believers grow and one of the things that he senses is missing in the walk of the various Christians at the Church of Philippi was a lack of joy joy of course is the dominant theme of this book because Paul keeps using that word joy over and over and over again he uses it more times in this book in a concentrated way than anywhere else so as Christians how do we really walk in joy and of course what is joy it's not walking around with sort of a plastic smile on our face denying reality when you're hurting but it's basically a sense of peace a tranquility that we can experience a sense that all is well in all hell could be breaking loose in a person's life in other words it's something that a Christian by birthright is entitled to experience in the midst of the storms of life and our nation and our world as you know is in the midst of a major storm and so I thought it would be appropriate to deal with this book which emphasizes this subject the first chapter of the book chapter one is the glass is not half-empty chapter but the glass is half what half-full where Paul I believe is teaching us the mental discipline of looking at life through a different set of lenses or eyeglasses and what we have to do is we need to train ourselves to seeing the hand of God in every circumstance because God is there but the problem is we don't really recognize it and in fact God is doing things in the midst of negative circumstances that he probably would not do and could not do without those negative circumstances and so Paul explains that through four realities in chapter one number two the path to joy is to take self off the throne and to live for something higher than oneself that's the walk of servanthood and this is one of the reasons why many of us as Christians are so unhappy and so miserable is we really haven't learned the walk of being a servant and so chapter 2 is really all about servanthood Paul actually gives us their four examples of servanthood of course the highest example is Jesus Christ himself who had a particular attitude now we're going to see how there were a couple of people in Philippi not having that attitude so that's why chapter 2 is going to inform what we're reading this morning in chapter 4 the third path or the third way to joy is to avoid legalism legalistic bondage we've talked all about that Paul in this chapter even talks about his own transition away from what he calls legalism and one of the things that's wonderful about the Bible is the Bible doesn't just say give something up what it says is instead of legalism replace that with something better and he's given us better things to pursue in the place of legalism like maturity avoiding licentiousness and a heavenly an eternal perspective and we dealt with all of those last week and we didn't get a chance to deal with number four the fourth thing that we are to pursue instead of legalism and I'm happy or thankful or might I even say joyous that the Lord set it up this way because I really think what he says here in chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 deserves its own treatment and sermon which by God's grace I'm going to attempt to give you this morning the pursuit of unity rather than being legalistic instead pursue unity and specifically he is talking about unity within the family unity within the body of Christ so let's look at verses 1 through 3 and then let's come back and make four observations about it here's our verses for this morning they were already read verses 1 through 3 notice if you will verse 1 Paul writes therefore my beloved brethren whom I long to see my joy and my crown in this way stand firm in the Lord my beloved now when he says therefore this is his concluding section these are his final remarks to the church at Philippi and you'll also notice this expression my beloved verse 1 which he uses not once but twice the expression my beloved is used about 60 times in the Greek New Testament nine of those times it refers to the love of the Father for the love of the son Jesus Christ within the Trinity but 51 times which is a lot of usages it refers to a Christian and so that's why many times faster will refer to their flocks as beloved because that's what you are in Christ you are beloved you are loved by God so it's very clear here that he is not dealing with unsaved people he's trying to complete something that is lacking rather in save people and it becomes clear when he calls them not just beloved but my beloved brethren there is no way that such a term could apply to a lost person in fact Jesus I believe it's in Matthew 12 he was told your mother your brothers are waiting for you and he said well who are they who are my brother mothers sisters family are not they the ones that do the will of my Heavenly Father so brethren is not an unsaved person this is obviously instructions to a saved person so here in the book of Philippians and particularly this chapter we are not dealing with justification what someone must do to be saved we're dealing with the middle tents their sanctification what must a saved person do to develop and grow correctly this is not like John's Gospel John's Gospel was written to unsaved people primarily and we know that from John 20 verses 30 and 31 John explains why he has documented all of these things in his gospel about the life of Christ he says there and gives his purpose statement in the process therefore many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these signs in other words of Christ are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name John says I'm not giving a theology lesson just to give a theology lesson I'm revealing who Jesus is by virtue of his signs so that the loss can believe in Christ and be saved and had the gift of life so obviously John is writing to people that hadn't believed yet and hadn't received the gift of life yet not so the book Philippians Philippians is more how to develop how to grow as a Christian and it's interesting to me that the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians in verse 1 whom I long to see now he's gonna deal with a couple of people that are fighting like cats and dogs here and I would think Paul would say gosh I'm glad I'm separated from you guys I don't want to deal with it but as a pastor he longed to see these people with their warts-and-all and he wants to see them walk and joy he wants to see them walk in unity so the type of friction and schism that's happening here in these verses won't continue on Paul had planted this church 11 years earlier and he looked at them as his spiritual family and his spiritual lineage in fact their progress in the Lord gave Paul joy it reminds me very much of 3rd John verse 4 where John says I have no greater joy than this to hear my children are walking in the truth I mean as a parent isn't that your greatest joy when your children are walking in the truth as a as a shepherd isn't that your greatest joy when your congregation is walking in the truth and even though there's a problem here that he surfaces in fact it's the only problem I know of that's directly dealt with openly in the whole book of Philippians he acknowledges these people as his joy he also calls them not just my joy but my crown interesting because at the Bema seat judgment of Christ the judgment of awards 5 crowns will either be given or not given to individual Christians there's the incorruptible crown for the believer that gains mastery the flesh the crown of rejoicing for the sole winner the crown of life for the believer that endures trials the crown of glory for the believer that faithfully Shepherds God's people and then there's a crown of righteousness for longing for his appearing it very well could be that Paul is thinking of crown number two as he refers to them as his crown I mean they had their spiritual life because Paul is the one that brought them by God's grace to faith alone so you know there's a kind of a famous saying in the amongst pastors in the ministry the ministry would be a great occupation if it wasn't for all the people I mean Christianity would be great if you didn't have to deal with Christians and as my friend Randall price says it's not catching the fish that's the difficult part it's cleaning the fish and it can become sort of an arduous task dealing with all kinds of people and all kinds of issues and all kinds of personalities it's interesting to me that Paul never let any of that steal his joy he saw them as his joy and his crown and consequently the Apostle Paul says here stand firm in the Lord now that is a common expression that he uses other times for example in Ephesians 6 verse 10 he says finally be strong in the Lord and then the strength of his might verse 14 Ephesians 6 he says stand firm therefore 1st Peter 5 and verse 9 says but resist him that is Satan firm in your faith so the Christian is called upon to stand firm in the things of God now the command would not be needed if we didn't have the potential as Christians not to stand firm in the things of God so it's very easy as a Christian to be blown to and fro by all kinds of issues and not really be standing firm in the resources that God has given us so therefore it's necessary to have this injunction to stand firm in the Lord we continue on we go to verse 2 and here we start to run into the issue I urge you Odia and I urge sin takie to live in harmony in the Lord now verse 2 notice this word urge it's para Kaleo it's a word that means I strongly exhort this is not a suggestion he's giving he's expressing himself from the deepest part of his being that he urges these two individuals to stand firm in the Lord and what then is the problem we run into someone named Euodia and we run into someone named sin tacky who are not living in harmony in the Lord now it's interesting verse 3 he says I ask you to help these women so it's two women that are causing the problem now does this mean that men can't behave like these two women were behaving of course it does not mean that I've seen men go to blows with each other in the body of Christ just like two women do and were but he is singling out this particular issue of two women that for whatever reason are at loggerheads with one another so what's the problem between these two isn't that what we always ask when Christians get out of sorts with each other I mean what's the issue it's interesting to me that Paul doesn't give the issue I mean if the issue was that big a deal he would told us about it right he doesn't say that because what I want you to see is this with Paul the issue is not the issue the issue is the attitude oftentimes there's an attitude masquerading behind an issue Paul doesn't focus on the issue he focuses on the attitude now this is very interesting to me verse 2 I urge you Odia and I urge sent the key to live and harmony in the Lord and if you look that up in Greek to live in harmony it is the Greek verb phroneo attitude as I like to tell my daughter many times and I need to have it told to me many times your attitude determines your altitude the problem here is something was happening at an attitudinal level what was happening well we know what it was because Paul uses the exact same word the exact same verb back in chapter 2 when he describes our role as servants and he gives us an example of who to follow as servants it's Jesus Christ and in the process of that explanation he says have this attitude in yourselves which is also in Christ Jesus and this is where we get the famous canosa's passage coming from that Greek word their verb here the noun is Canosa sit means to empty oneself and we've talked about what that means in our series but the right attitude verse 5 is found in the person of Christ verse 7 who emptied himself and taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men and by resurfacing the identical verb in chapter 4 verse 2 we learned that the issue here is not the issue the issue is the attitude and what had happened to these two in this case women is that they had lost sight of their proper attitude as servants something happened here that we might call a power struggle a turf war of some kind someone not getting their way about something whatever it is it's irrelevant what is relevant is the lack of Christlikeness that these two here are exhibiting and one of the greatest skills you could ever have as a Shepherd is conflict resolution you know I've been at this church probably about 10 years I've seen multiple conflicts come and go and as God is my witness in watching these different conflicts the issue is really not the issue well I mean whatever it is people are upset about that really 99% of the time is not the problem the problem is something has happened to people at an attitudinal level where they are not no longer for whatever reason walking out the canosa's or the emptying of Christ Jesus he moves on there in verse 3 and he says indeed true companion I asked you to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel together with Clement and also the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life now notice verse 3 he says indeed true companion now who is that we're not told but the situation was serious enough where Paul wanted to get someone involved in helping this issue get fixed and this person was sort of acting as an as someone that would intervene Paul himself obviously couldn't fix the problem or deal with the problem because they're in Philip I he's in Rome he's in prison he doesn't even know how his trial is gonna go exactly before Caesar so he's getting someone else another party involved and that's how serious Paul took this issue now people look at this and they say well obviously these two women were not Christians because Christians could enact that way I think I don't think there's any shadow of a doubt that Paul here is dealing with Christians Euodia and sent the key because he says to them verse three you have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel in other words you once stood alongside of me and were a co laborer with me in my ministry it's very difficult for me to believe that Paul would take people whose salvation was suspect and put him into that role he also talks about a man named Clement and I tried to look up some commentators this week on who Clement is and some of the best like Lightfoot says we don't know who Clement was don't have any real evidence of him but Clement was a fellow colabor also so these women were once helping Paul they were a blessing like Clement is but something had gone off the rails well what's the issue well the issue is not the issue it's the attitude that Paul begins to deal with he refers to them here you odeon Sindhi he doesn't say y'all aren't saved he calls them my fellow workers and then of course the clencher there's verse three their names are in the book of life you say well what's the book of life well the book of life is spoken of three times in the book of Revelation revelation three verse five revelation 20 verse 12 and verse 15 revelation 20 verse 15 says if anyone's name was not found in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire so I would understand the book of life as a record book of anyone that has trusted Christ as their Savior and by the way once your name is in the book of life God doesn't get out whiteout and cancel you out of there because you go back to the flesh they're still in the book of life because of the doctrine of once saved always saved John 10:27 through 29 talks about how we are in his hand and in the father's hand and you look that up and study that whole thing out in the original languages of Scripture you learned that absolutely nothing can take you out of the father's or the sons hand so quite clearly the reference to the fact that these two warring women are in the book of life seals the deal that we are dealing with Christians so with all of that being said I want to introduce or give to you briefly this morning for observations about this issue of unity within the body of Christ getting along within the family of God number one first observation is believers can they not saying they should but can return to the sin nature and jeopardize at that moment not only their fellowship with God but their fellowship with each other one of the things to understand about your status in Christ not positionally but practically is we are dual natured a lot of theological systems will deny that but we believe it to be a biblical truth in other words this side of the rapture this side of death the Spirit is within me the new nature is within me and yet I can retreat to the flesh and go back to it at will the old sin nature if that weren't true why would the book of Galatians say this after describing our freedom in Christ do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh I mean if I'm already in a state of glorification no sin nature in me at all why would it tell me not to return to the flesh because the potential for returning to the flesh is alive and well within the Christian the difference is I don't have to do it now before I was saved I was a hostage to it now when I go back to the sin nature as a Christian it's a matter of choice but the choice is there if choice weren't there why would Paul in Romans 13 verse 14 which by the way is the highest book you could ever read on the doctrine of salvation I mean there isn't a higher treatise or treatment on the doctrine of salvation anywhere in the Bible Paul describes our salvation and tremendous detail and then at the end of the book he says this make no provision for the flesh and it's lusts let me cycle back here just for a minute to the three tenses of salvation look at the very bottom of the screen before you get saved you're a single entity a sin nature and that's it once you get saved the new nature comes inside of you but you're to a large extent dual natured you can retreat to that sin nature at will now you don't have to and the resources are given in Christ where we don't have to what I'm saying is not that it's good but the possibility is there and then in glorification far right of the screen you'll be single natured again this time having no sin nature at all so are you guys glorified today I mean I'm looking out at you some of you I'm very happy to see you haven't seen you for a long time but you all don't look glorified to me and I doubt even though I've got my Sunday best on I don't think I look all that glorify to you so prior to glorification it is an absolute reality and people that don't teach this mislead Christians into what the spiritual life is all about we are dual natured I can go back to the sin nature the sin nature is always there to tempt me and to pull me back I don't have to but I can and that's basically what happened to you Oh dia and cinta ki who had done great things for the cause of Christ they were a tremendous asset in the ministry of Christ and whatever for whatever reason they went back into the flesh now the works of the flesh are described in Galatians 5:19 through 21 just like the fruit of the Spirit is described in verses 22 and 23 love joy peace patience kindness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law that's how I know I'm walking in the spirit at any given moment because my life will emanate the fruit of the Holy Spirit but how do I know when I've gone back into the flesh that's what verses 19 through 21 are describing now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are morality impurity sensuality idolatry going to verse 21 drunk drunkenness crowd carousing now look at these ones I have underlined here those are all sins that affect relationships within the church every single one of them eminent ease strife jealousy outbursts of anger disputes dissensions and factions isn't that what we're dealing with here with you audience in two key verse 21 I don't have an underline they're envying and I wasn't gonna make mention of this but at the end he says I forewarn you just as I forewarned that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God oh so a Christian if he goes back to that sin loses their salvation right no watch the pronouns this is what's called the vise lists and in every vice list he will switch from you today and what he's saying is why would you imitate a pagan by returning to the flesh because they don't even have your same destiny that's what he's saying he's not saying oh my gosh maybe you weren't saved and maybe you're gonna lose your salvation that's a gross miss reading of these vice lists and you can see correctly on this by watching the switch in pronouns from the second person to the third person so what do we learn here is that believers have the ability to return to the sin nature and thus get out of fellowship with each other and with their Lord look at what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 3:1 through 3 and I what brethren talking to believers I could not speak to you as spiritual people but as to carnal as to babe's in Christ I fed you with milk and not solid food for until now you were not able to receive it and even now you're still not able for you are still carnal for where there is envy and strife and divisions among you are you not carnal and behaving like mere men now the world of Christianity has taken a concept and grossly oversimplified it it's called a logical fallacy called reductionism and they divide the world and to saved and unsaved and that's the only division they know may I just say to you beloved that that is not how Paul understands the world Paul takes the world and divides it into halves we could say using this chart unbelievers and believers but his understanding of the believer is so much deeper than the reductionistic error of modern Christendom because within the ranks of the believer he uses three different words number one you've got those that are spiritual those that are progressing in the middle tents of your south their salvation those that are not sinless but are sinning less and those people will bless your socks off in the church but then he has a different word here the babes or the infants those are people that probably are new in Christ they're still sucking their thumb it's cute because that's what two-year-olds and three-year-olds do they suck their thumb when you're sixteen sucking your thumb the cuteness wears off doesn't it but then he uses an entirely different word here the carnal he's dealing with people in Christ the Arnel those are believers that are still living for the desires of the flesh and they should have grown up a long time ago he doesn't call into question their salvation he says they're living like the carnal carnal means flesh or meat as in carnivorous or chili con carne chili with meat fleshly he's dealing here with believers that just keep going back to the flesh over and over again and how are such people characterized it's very clear verse 3 there's envy strife and divisions that's the problem here with Euodia insent aqui now obviously they had masqueraded their difference of opinion in their fight with some sort of spiritual issue but to Paul the issue is not the issue the attitude is the issue the lack of a servant canosa's emptying mindset is the problem and this is what a Christian can become of course the mere men here would be the unsaved and let me tell you something folks the carnal Christian they can out sin an unbeliever and this is what Paul is dealing with in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 where he says there is a form of immorality happening in the church that the pagans don't even do and so my first point here is believers can return to the sin nature and jeopardize fellowship this this is a long-standing problem within the church amongst God's people getting along within the family in fact it's so old that you find it a thousand years before the time of Christ in the book of herbs which says there are six proverbs six verses 16 through 19 there are six things which the Lord hates yet seven which are an abomination to him that sounds pretty strong language to me haughty eyes a lying tongue hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devises wicked plans feet that rat run rapidly into evil a false witness who others lies so I'm glad the list stopped there oh it doesn't stop there look at this last one and the one who spreads strife amongst the brothers not someone who is at war with the secular world but someone who is creating deliberate animosity amongst people within the community of God's people save people acting like unsaved people well gee pastor there must be some serious issue here at Sugarland Bible Church for you to go into this well as far as I know there is no serious issue but this is what verse-by-verse teaching does you deal with everything in the passage as you move through it systematically observation number two believers are exhorted to live consistently with their position do you understand or do we understand that in Christ in the body of Christ amongst fellow believers positionally speaking you're already united in one body I mean that's already happened seasons 2 verse 14 of this says for he himself is our peace who had made both groups in this case warring Jews and Gentiles into one and broke down the dividing barrier Galatians 3 verse 20 there's neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus first Corinthians 12 and verse 13 says for by one spirit we were all baptized identified in other words into one body whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free we were all made to drink of one spirit so if that's already happened a believer cannot sever themselves in a war with another Christian because that would be contradicting our position in Christ you see our position in Christ has not just United us vertically with God it has United us horizontally with each other well I don't like sister so-and-so and I don't like brother so-and-so well I don't know if God is really asking our opinion about stuff what he's saying is walk out the emptying of Christ yeah but someone so and so and so did this to me and did that to me well is that what Jesus said was when he was dying on the cross was he saying you all offended me and believe me when I come back I'm gonna get you all said forgive them they know not what they do that's what it means to walk out Christianity in community that is what authentic Christianity is well pastor isn't it great that we have this ministry on the internet and we have this ministry on the website and isn't it great that all these people out there love us you know why they love us because they don't know us I mean I run into these concept these people all the time if I lived in Sugar Land I'd be at your church when the doors are open all of the time and I'm thinking to myself well right we'll see how long that lasts you like us because you don't know us I mean and I'm not I understand there's a lot of people out there that can't find churches and they depend on the internet and I think that's great and we want to expedite that but here's the reality of the situation it's easy to do Christianity through a computer screen because I don't have to interact with anybody I really don't have to like anybody and if the pastor is too long-winded I can just click the off button some of them are doing that right now and by the way we have these churches today that are that are like baseball stadiums full of people and people love big churches why would you love a big church because you can duck in and out anonymously you don't have to interact with anybody no one even knows your name and you can get your kind of spiritual fill a liver quiver of the day without walking out authentic Christianity in relationships first Corinthians 12 verses 20 and 21 says this but there are many members but one body the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you or again the head to the foot I have no need of you and yet that's what's happening here with the Odia and CENTAC II what are we called to do beloved we're called to live our position isn't that how the whole book of Ephesians is set up now that you know these things chapters 1 through 3 blessed are you if you do them chapters 4 through 6 why be holy because God already said I am positionally well I bury the hatchet with another Christian why not take the wrong because God already said I'm one with another Christian this is one of the great their force as we move from Doctrine chapters one through three into practice chapters four through six so how do you walk out your positional unity Ephesians four two and three says with all humility see if Paul were a modern day psychologist what he would do is he would give everybody a temperament test and get people of similar temperaments to work together because that according to modern-day psychology is what resolves conflict the Apostle Paul knew of no such doctrine he says in Ephesians four two and three with humility well that's the problem a lack thereof with gentleness with patience showing tolerance for one another in love being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that's how you walk out your united position and we begin to practice the one another's did you know that there are 59 one anothers in the New Testament accept one another greet one another be kind and compassionate to one another don't lie to one another instruct one another don't bite and devour one another serve one another I mean on and on week ago 59 I was shocked I knew it the one anothers were in the New Testament I didn't know there were that many that's what yo D and Sint aqui are not practicing they're not doing what Jesus role model for us is empty they're not having the same attitude as Christ and that's Paul's point Psalm 133 and verse 1 says behold how good and pleasant it is for the brothers not saved unsaved for the brothers to dwell together in unity number 3 when believers fail to walk out their position of unity they neuter or blunt or destroy the churches witness destroy it why is that because Jesus in Matthew 12 verse 25 said a kingdom cannot be divided against itself you get the church at war with the church the church can't stand Jesus in the upper room John 13 verse 35 says by all this men will know that you are my disciples if you know Greek in Hebrew if you got your theology ironclad that's what I wanted to say it doesn't say that if you love one another John 17 verse 23 Jesus says I in them and you in me that we may be perfected in unity so that the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you love me how is the world even supposed to know about Jesus by watching the love between Christians that's the evidence and this is why it's such a tragic thing in 1st Corinthians 6 where you have Christians not only fighting with each other but at war with each other to the point where they can't settle their grievances in the church they've got to submit their grievances to a secular court now what what's the unbelieving judge supposed to think about that what kind of what kind of testimony is that to him first Corinthians six and verse seven Paul says actually then concerning these lawsuits amongst Christians it is already a defeat for you you're defeated already you don't even realize it I mean you're so vigorous pursuing your personal rights that you've just neutered you just destroyed the testimony of the church now Paul doesn't say you're obviously not save does he never says that because of our first point the believer can return to the sin nature he says why not rather be wronged why not rather be defrauded I mean someone so treated me unfairly well absorb it I mean it's better to absorb it than to air your differences with another Christian in front of an unsaved person because there's no way that unsaved person could come to Christ other than a miracle of God witnessing that let me be very clear the return to the flesh does not impact our justification it doesn't impact the standing of Euodia and CENTAC II whose names are in the book of life Paul never says your name just got taken out ha ha ha can never change your position but what it can do is destroy your growth your fellowship with God your progressive sanctification your rewards at the Bema seat judgment and of Christ and you know what else it destroys it destroys what this whole book is about it destroys your joy it'll completely destroy your joy when you pursue personal vengeance we pursue personal vengeance against a fellow Christian and don't walk out the canosa's this takes us to our fourth and final observation and you see most sermons on this subject will end right there but I want to talk about this fourth point because there is massive widespread confusion on this subject coming into the body of Christ through what is called the ecumenical movement there is a big difference between a true unity and a false unity the Bible never says tone down a part of the truth for unity that's what the ecumenical movement says there isn't a shred or a grain of truth to that if anybody is putting you under pressure to not believe something about the Bible whether it's the creation days the rapture faith alone by Christ alone free grace and they're using the unity card to get you to back down from those doctrines they just went outside biblical parameters here's a pastor it's on his website I don't know if it's necessary that I call out his name you can go to the slide look at his name if you want it's no one that I don't think anybody knows too well but he's basically arguing that in order for us to really be unified we got to get rid of the millennial doctrine in fact he says if you post your views of the millennium on your church website you're in sin that is not the unity that's being spoken of here that is a false unity and you can recognize it as a false unity because it's putting people under pressure to deny truth the unity that God brings is not in spite of the truth because of the truth God never calls his church to be unified by watering down truth now the ecumenical movement will tell you that and they'll tell you you're in sin and you're not pursuing unity but that is not what is being spoken of here unity is not at the expense of the truth that's because of the truth and by the way all unity isn't good they had unity at the tower Babel I mean they had one language and they were building their one-world project and God says nothing will be impossible for them and he scattered them by confounding the language yeah but doesn't John 17 verses 20 through 23 didn't Jesus pray that we should be one as he and the father are one every ecumene esteverena knew quotes these verses in fact on the pastor's website when he says dump millennium he's quoting there you see it in the quote if you take the time to go back and read it John 17 verse 21 what I want to show you is how badly the context is being abused there yes verses 20 through 23 promote unity within the body of Christ but the last time I checked verse 17 comes before verse 20 why does everybody leave off verse 17 and the last time I checked verse 19 comes before verse 20 why would you just quote verses 20 through 23 and you don't quote verse 17 and verse 19 which precede those unity passages where Jesus says sanctify them in the truth Your Word is truth verse 20 that they themselves may also be sanctified in the truth then he starts talking about unity see the ecumenical movement says get rid of truth to have unity Jesus is saying no you have unity when you have the right foundation of the truth may God help us to understand this Lewis Sperry chafer writes this thoughtless and absurd is the modern idea that in John 17 Christ was praying that denominations would exist in remote time and in a remote country then a noun might become organically United into one and therefore it is the the unity of all sects to help answer this prayer that's the that's the siren song of the ecumenical movement don't be an independent Bible teaching Church which causes you to part ways with this group over here or that group over there because you'd be violating Christ's words it's what they're saying Schaefer says as indicated before this unity is sought at the hand of the Father indicating that it is a divine undertaking it is that and it results in unity as organic and vital as that between the father and the son this prayer that Jesus is praying for unity John 17 began to be answered on the day of Pentecost when believers were by the Spirit baptized into one body and is constantly answered whenever a soul is saved and thus joined as a member to the body of Christ by the same baptism of the Spirit we don't have to pursue unity we already have it and he's not saying dump this doctrine and dump that doctrine to coalesce with some other group that doesn't believe those things it's not what is being said here what he's saying is stand on truth and that when it comes to excursions back into the flesh not having the attitude of cry which creates dissensions and factions that's what your to avoid and that's his injunction to Euodia incent aqui but pastor look at the unity that existed in the early church yeah it's a great read acts 2 verses 41 through 47 they had fellowship they had all things in common they're sharing their possessions with each other volitionally by the way they're taking their meals together they're having the favor with all the people why does everybody dump verse 42 why do they do that why do they all quote verse 40 to be and following to promote unity but no one ever quotes the very first thing the early church gave themselves to why is that because we're being influenced by the ecumenical agenda let's find common ground with Mormons let's find common ground with Catholics let's find common ground with Muslims last time I checked the bible says there is no fellowship between light and darkness there is no commonality with those outside the parameters of biblical truth the early church had unity no question about it but what did they give themselves to before they gave themselves to anything it's there in verse 42 they were continually devoting themselves to what continually that sounds like it was pretty regular in their minds devoting it's a priority they were giving themselves to apostolic teaching which is the word doctrine the unity which developed in the early church came out of that initial commitment and I feel sort of the need to explain some of these things because when the concept of unity comes up and it's a valid concept the ecumenical movement comes in and perverts it and by the way folks not all disunity within the body of Christ is necessarily wrong did you know that fleshly disunity is wrong but I've seen God work even through disunity in fact Paul the Apostle says this in 1st Corinthians 11 verse 19 and I've never heard an ecumenical Paul says for there also must be factions among you so that those who are approved may become evident among you God can even use disunity and in acts 15 verses 39 and 40 you want to talk about a church split it has to do with Paul wanting to launch you out on his second missionary journey and he was totally you need to take mark with you and Paul says I'm not taking that brat with me on missionary journey - that's the same guy that bailed out of mission missionary journey number one and Paul got into it on this issue and it says in acts 15 verses 39 and 40 there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another Barnabas took mark with him and sailed to Cyprus but Paul chose Silas and left being committed by the Brethren to the grace of the Lord can men of God argue with each other and not get along that there it is right there in your Bible in fact this wasn't a disagreement this was a sharp disagreement and you know what God worked through that situation because you know we have now in the book acts not one missionary team but how many - and this is included in the book of Acts because the book of Acts is about the birth and the growth of the church how did the message spread so fast in the greco-roman world God worked through a church schism so if there's a schism between Christians God can use even that situation and so it really becomes a tremendous lesson for us on this subject of unity as Paul is telling us instead of being legalistic to pursue unity and here we learn just four simple truths believers can return to the sin nature and jeopardize fellowship and they shouldn't do that because believers are exhorted to live consistently with their new position and when I go back into the flesh and disunity results that can blunt the church's effectiveness but at the same time number four we have to learn the key difference between a true unity and the false unity spoken of by the ecumenical movement it's of course possible that you could be here today and you've never been unified with the God that made you and our exhortation to you is simply to trust in the gospel meaning good news it's called the good news cuz Jesus did everything in our place through his death burial resurrection and ascension and he asks us to be saved not to trust in ourselves but to trust in what he has done for us not to trust in our own works but to trust in the good work that he has done on our behalf and so becoming a Christian is that easy being justified before God is that easy where the spirit convicts a person of their need to do this and they trust in this message they trust in the Savior and immediately they're made right with God so if it's something you need more explanation on I'm available after the service to talk I guess I have to be up here and you'll have to stand down there on your appointed ex in the middle of the carpet no I'm just kidding I'm just trying to follow rules but if you need to talk to me about it I'm available after the service to talk but for people that are listening perhaps or watching this after the fact we just want to communicate the simplicity of the gospel which unifies us with the God that made us shall we pray father we are grateful for the book of Philippians were grateful for how you allowed this book to come into existence by dealing with real people with real problems and yet you were providential in allowing this sufficient completed revelation to be recorded for our benefit 2,000 years later we praise you for that help us to have a right understanding of these things and to walk these things out this week we'll be careful to give you all the praise in the glory we ask these things in Jesus name and God's people said Thank You pastor which rises would conclude our service with a quick verse of all the wonderful assurance we have a knowing Christ as our Savior it is a blessed assurance blessed are sure [Music] you you

Channel: Andy Woods

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Keywords: bible study, Andy Woods, Revelation, prophecy, Pastors point of view, dispensationalism, Rapture, Kingdom, Millennium, coming kingdom, sugar land bible, church and state, salvation, christian, bible, verse by verse, Jesus, end times, worldview

Id: 266xRJrPIuQ

Length: 66min 41sec (4001 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 07 2020