Unity in the Body of Christ

In Philippians chapter two, the apostle Paul is talking about unity, about how important unity is to us in the body of Christ. And he went through the first few verses and was making his case to the church at Philippi as to why it is that they should desire unity.

Philippians 2:1–4 (AV)
1If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Because we have Consolation in Christ because we have the comfort of love and fellowship of the spirit and bowels and mercies. Because we’ve, we’ve received those things from the Lord. Then the, natural response to that should be that we would want to portray those things outwardly as well, and to share those with other people, it’s not that we’ve, found these things in the Lord, and then we want to hoard them all to ourselves and keep them to ourselves and, and have a secret society and a secret hand shake and, and secret passwords and, all that kind of a thing and not let anybody else around.

We’re not like the gold prospectors of old times that, wanted to keep their claim safe and secure from everybody else. But instead, we want to share these things. And we want to reciprocate what we’ve received from the Lord towards others. As a Christian, that’s what we ought to desire to do. As a matter of fact, he, the Lord said over in John chapter 13, that the way that people would know that we were his disciples is for our love for the brethren and our love for one another. That’s how people would know whether you’re a disciple of the Lord or not.

Now, not everybody, who’s a believer is a disciple; some people get that all twisted up and messed up. They’re like, well, if you’ve come to saving faith and knowledge, of the Lord Jesus Christ. That means you’re a disciple. And you know, to be a disciple, requires some discipline.

To be a disciple is somebody who, truly follows after all the commands of the Lord. And once you continue to grow closer to Him and become more like him every day, of course, every Christian ought to be that way. And every Christian should be and has the opportunity to be a disciple, but not all Christians are disciples.

A matter of fact, unfortunately, very few. Actually are, but the way that people would know whether you’re his disciple or not is for your love for the brethren and so that’s, sort of a litmus test, so to speak as to whether you’re a disciple or not. To be a Christian means to be like, or as Christ. People throw the word Christian around so loosey-goosey these days, even, real quote-unquote Christians call people, Christians all the time based on, I don’t even know what. I don’t even know what they base it on. They say when speaking of these folks…Well, they’re good Christian people. What does that mean? Does that mean that they just simply didn’t tell you that they were an atheist and if they didn’t tell you that they were an atheist or they didn’t tell you that they were Muslim or something like that, then that automatically means that they must be a Christian?

Now that’s how Christians approach it. That’s not what it means to be a Christian. And in order to be a Christian, you have to put your faith and trust and nothing, but the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the biblical definition of a Christian is to be like, or as Christ, we all fall short of that. For all have fallen short of the glory of God. But it’s something that you’re pushing towards, something you’re aspiring to. But when I say Christian that’s what I mean. I mean, somebody who has put their faith and trust, in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting him and nothing but him for their salvation, because Jesus said that he was the way the truth and the life that no man comes to the father, but by him, period, and it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks about it.

So that’s what we mean by Christian. Not just that. Well, somebody didn’t tell me to shut up when I talked about, church or something and unfortunately, a lot of Christians that’s what they think, well, they’re good Christian people. No, they’re probably not. And it’s actually a very dangerous assumption to make.

That’s a very dangerous assumption to make that people are Christians. If you don’t know for a fact that they are, because if you’re gonna make that assumption. You just figured that they must be a Christian because they’re not completely opposed to the things that you do. And that just may mean that they aren’t in the mood for an argument today.

That doesn’t mean anything unless you know what their testimony is. You have to presume that they’re not saved. Unless they’ve given you a testimony that says that they are trusting the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing, but the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then it is safer to presume that they’re not. It really is. And maybe, you’re wrong. if you make that presumption, maybe they are saved. They just haven’t vocalized it, that’s possible. And that’s fine, but I would much rather error on the side of sharing the gospel with people who are already saved, than to assume that they are saved, and not sharing the gospel with them and have to be standing up in glory one day and watch them being cast into the lake of fire because that’s, what’s going to happen to a lot of Christians.

Well, the people that you think are Christians based on, I don’t even know what, cause they’re nice people. That’s not, what we’re dealing with here. If you’re, truly a Christian, if you put your faith and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ, then you ought to, as you grow closer to him and the longer that you’re saved, you ought to want to grow closer to him. You want to grow In the knowledge and admonition of the Lord and you, you would want to get to know him even more and you would want to be like Him even more. This is what I’m going to speak on in this article. The example of the Lord, Jesus Christ in humility, the example of the Lord, Jesus Christ. There, are lots of things that we can learn from the Lord Jesus Christ here. And we find this here in Philippians chapter two, probably the greatest chapter in the Bible on humility and we all need to be more humble. The Bible says to humble your selves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. And we’re supposed to humble ourselves in the Lord.

Humility

Jesus Christ has given us the perfect example of what it is to humble yourself. And what that truly looks like now, Paul is telling us here in Philippians chapter two, that we need to have unity with one another. We all need to be fighting for the same, cause we all need to be rowing the boat in the same direction.

When you’re on a canoe trip with somebody you’re in a canoe. Usually, you’ve got two people in the canoe, right? You got two people in the canoe. You got to be rowing in the same direction or else it doesn’t go well. I’ve been on multiple canoe trips with my lovely wife. Who I love dearly. And you know that I love her dearly because she survived the canoe trips, even though at least on one occasion, I switched partners and got into a different canoe and I’m like, I’m done.

Because you just can’t seem to get the thing rolling in the right direction, doing the right thing at the same time. And all that kind of thing. If you’re not rowing the canoe together, you’re not paddling the canoe in the right direction in unison together. Then you’re just going to go around in circles. You’re not going to get anywhere. You’re not going to accomplish anything. You’re going to be frustrated and get upset and you’re going to be mad. Or at least I am, maybe I’m alone. But if you get in unison, Then you can actually accomplish something and you can actually get to where it is that you are trying to go. The same thing holds true in the body of Christ.

If we’re in unison, if we’re in unity with one another, if, we’re in the same mind, in one accord. We can actually be busy about the cause for Christ instead of all the internal turmoils and strife and everything else that would go along with that. And then the Apostle Paul doesn’t just tell us, this is what I love about the Bible. So many people always, bad mouth the Bible and stuff because they don’t know the Bible.

They are not going to spend time to actually read and study the Bible and see what the Bible actually has to say for itself. They’re trusting somebody else, they trust what somebody on YouTube or something has to say about the Bible. I’ll give you a free tip. Don’t pay attention to what people on YouTube say about the Bible. because they don’t know what they’re talking about.

So I love the Bible because the Bible doesn’t just leave you hanging. Right? The Bible doesn’t just say, Hey, you need to live in unity. You need to get along with one another. You need to be of one mind. You need to be in one accord. Just do it. “Swoosh” the Bible doesn’t do that. The Bible tells you how! It’s such a blessing. So that’s what we’re going to look at.

How can we live in unity? How can we all together fight for the cause of Christ? How can we accomplish that? First and foremost, the thing that you have to do is, you gotta be saved. If you’re not saved, then you’re out. You need to get saved. You need to put your faith and trust in the Lord. Jesus Christ. Trust him and nothing but him for your salvation. That’s it. That’s all it takes. Jesus said in John chapter three and verse number 18, that people are condemned in their sins for one reason. And one reason only. And that’s because they have not believed on the only begotten son of God. That’s why people are condemned in their sins.

Not because they committed murder its not because they are a thief or a liar or anything else. It is because they’ve rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says he,that hath the Son hath life, and he, that hath, not the son of God hath not life. but the wrath of God abideth on him. That’s it.

The first step is you have to get in the family. You must be born again that’s what Jesus said, once you’re born again, then you have the opportunity and the ability, now you belong and you are part of the body of Christ that you can work in unity with others in order to do so. You need to follow what he tells us down here in Philippians chapter two, verses three and four.

Philippians 2:3–4 (AV)
3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

He says, let nothing be done through strife or Vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others, verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in. Christ Jesus. And he’s going to go through, and he’s going to explain what he’s talking about and if we’ll follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in this, having a submissive mind and be a lowliness of mind, then that will enable us to work in unison with one another.

Lowliness of Mind

That will enable you to actually fulfill the call that God has placed upon your life. So verses five through 11 here in Philippians chapter two, the apostle Paul here is showing us the picture of humility and what it means to have a submissive mind, what it means to be lowliness of mind to consider yourself a more lowly again, humility Isn’t thinking poorly of yourself. It just simply not thinking of yourself. And that’s a problem that everybody has. We all think of ourselves too much. We think about and worry about what other people think about us and that is what most Christians need to be saved from there’s a lot more to be saved from than just hell you understand.

And one thing that Christians need to be saved from is public opinion. And what I mean by that is so many Christians. They, keep their, lips closed and their tongue silent, because they’re worried about what people are going to think about them. And we need to be more concerned with what the Lord thinks than what the other people think.

Now the apostle Paul did tell us that we’re supposed to if at all possible live peaceably among other people we’re not supposed to bring an offense intentionally. However, the preaching of the cross is an offense. So people get offended because you’re preaching the truth that’s on them. That’s not on you.

Now, there are plenty of people that are out there then intentionally offend people. So they can have some kind of, you know, a badge of honor or something and say that they suffered for the Lord Jesus Christ or something, which they’re not going to qualify for that reward if that’s what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

So we don’t go out of our way to offend people and be offensive to people. But if they’re offended by the truth then they’re offended by the truth. That’s between them and the Lord but, we need to be thinking of ourselves less than we do. Not less of ourselves, but just think of ourselves less and think of the Lord, Jesus Christ more.

And the example that we have to follow in this thing is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And that’s what we’re going to see here. The first thing that I want you to notice here is that the Lord Jesus Christ willingly laid aside his Glory. He willingly laid aside the Glory that he had as God. He put on the form of a servant.

He did not ever stop being God. He was still God. He was fully God. And he was fully man at the same time, he just simply laid down his glory. He laid down the independent use of his Godly attributes. He willingly did that. He laid that down. And he, no longer exercised his attributes as God as an independent agent as he did prior to him coming to the earth. Prior to his coming to the earth, he exercised his attributes independently of the rest of the Godhead. But once he came in flesh, which he did, then he was no longer independent of that. He then submitted himself under the father.

John 8:29 (AV)
29And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

Jesus did all things that pleased the father. He stopped independently exercising in his Godly attributes and he submitted himself under the father. So we have some characteristics here that we’re going to see in the life of the Lord, Jesus Christ here in these, these next few verses, and we’re going to see those things that not only apply to the Lord Jesus Christ, but they are going to apply to a person who is living in lowliness of mind or who is living with a submissive mind.

The Mind of Christ

Submissive, people don’t like to be submissive, they don’t like to submit to anything, they don’t like to be told what to do. I don’t like to be told what to do either. I hate being told what to do. That’s natural. It’s not right, but it’s natural. We don’t like to be told that we need to do things and people usually put up their defenses and everything when you start telling them what it is that they have to do, or what have you, but we need to be submissive. We need to be submissive to the Lord first and foremost, and we need to be submissive to one another. And the Lord Jesus Christ. here is our example. Let’s look at verses five and six, to begin with.

Philippians 2:5–6 (AV)
5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

The apostle Paul says that we need to have the mind of Christ verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So this is the mind of the Lord, Jesus Christ. In other words, this was his attitude. When we say that you need to have the mind of Christ we don’t mean that all of a sudden you’re going to know everything that he knows.

That would blow some circuits that would blow all the circuits. If we knew everything that he knew, if you could see everything that he could see, I don’t even know how he functioned. I really don’t. Because we’re blind to most things that are going on. We only see what we see, which is very little regarding the spirit world and everything else going on.

Jesus could see all that stuff. I don’t know how he concentrated. I can’t concentrate when I don’t see all that stuff. But he could, but I don’t mean when you’re going to have the mind of Christ that you’re going to know everything that he knows. You’re going to see everything that he sees.

One day that’s going to be true, One day, according to first, John chapter three, we’re going to be just like Him. We’re going to see him and we’re going to know him because we’re going to be just like Him. That’s going to happen after the rapture, but right now that’s not the case, according to the book of first Corinthians we’re looking through a glass darkly.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (AV)
12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

We’re looking through, a dirty glass. We can kind of see stuff and we think we can see fine. People do that all the time. They have eyeglasses or something and your eyeglasses get all dirty and fingerprints and dust and whoever knows what all else, and you kind of get used to it and you don’t even notice it for a while.

People say I got 20, 20 vision, big deal. That’s nothing. You still don’t see everything going on. You have no, idea. To have the mind of Christ means to take on his attitude, the way that he thought about things, not the things that he knows, not all the things that he knows.

We don’t know everything that he knows. The Bible says that his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We can’t wrap our minds around the thoughts of the Lord and the things that the Lord knows.

Psalm 139:1–6 (AV)
1O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it. We can’t attain unto it. We can’t, even fathom the knowledge that the Lord has. But, we can have the mind of Christ in as much as the things that motivated Him, the way that he thinks about things. That is the thing that we can adopt.

We can have the mind of Christ. That’s what Paul is talking about here, back in Philippians, chapter two, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. Now he is not going to leave you hanging again, right? You don’t have to take my word for it. We’re going to continue to go on down through here and he’s going to explain what it is that he just said.

This is why you always want to read the scripture in context. So you want to see what the Lord has to say. You don’t want to just be picking out verses here or there, and then just try to make up your own interpretation and decide what you think. I think that it means right.

Peter said that no, scripture is of any private interpretation. So we’re going to continue going down through here. What’s he talking about? Let this mind be in you. Also, which was also in Christ. Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

Consider others more than ourselves

The example that we have of him as far as a following in the mind of Christ is that he thinks of others, not of himself. He was thinking of others, not of himself. He was God, he is God, he’s in glory with the father and with the Holy Spirit. And he willingly lays all that down because he was thinking of others, he submitted himself to the father while he walked the earth because he was thinking of the father, not of himself.

We think a lot of times it’s hard for us to humble ourselves. It’s hard for us to submit ourselves to other people, but he’s the creator and he did it. He’s the creator and he humbled himself. He existed before anything else ever existed. According to the Bible, he’s the one who created it all. nothing existed outside of him, he is the creator. He became flesh. He dwelled among us.

John says over there in first, John, he was manifested unto us. Our eyes have seen him, our hands have handled him. He wasn’t some spirit, he was an actual Human being, he became a human being. He humbled himself. Why? Because he was putting others above himself. No one else deserved to be above him. We can all look and say, yeah, well we should submit ourselves Because there are plenty of people that know more than we do. And have been places that we haven’t been, and they know things that we don’t know and all that sort of a thing. The Lord can’t say that.

Who could be his counselor? Paul said nobody who’s his instructor. Nobody. He asked Job those questions. Didn’t he? Where were you? When I laid the foundation on the earth? Where were you when I did this? Where were you when I did that? Where were you? You were nowhere. I was there. You weren’t, shut up and Sit down.

I’m paraphrasing, but he thought of others instead of thinking of himself because he deserved the glory. He deserved the glory because of who he is, not because of what he’s done. Just simply because of who he is, he deserved the glory. He deserved everything that he laid down. He deserved. that. He deserved to be in glory.

He deserved to be sitting on the throne and have all the Seraphims and everything else singing and praising him day and night, night and day. He deserved all that, but he willingly laid it down. Why? Because it was better for other people, it was better for us, for him to lay that down and to humble himself. And to make himself of the form of a servant, a form of a servant, you understand?

He didn’t even just lay down his glory and then come down and be born into the Royal family and, and all that. And had people praising him on earth, ever since he was born. No, he made himself a servant as low as he could make himself. Because he thought of others, not of himself.

According to Romans chapter 12 and verse number 10, we are supposed to prefer one another. We are supposed to prefer one another above ourselves. This is how we exercise the mind of Christ, right? The Lord Jesus Christ. He deserved glory and honor and accolades and everything else.

Romans 12:10 (AV)
10Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

We don’t deserve any of that stuff. At all, no matter how good of a job we’ve done, or no matter what we’ve accomplished in our lives, we don’t deserve any of it, but people are unwilling, to prefer other people above themselves. Well, then you’re not living in the mind of Christ.

We are commanded to prefer one another. Not only that, but first Thessalonians chapter five and verse number 11, it says that we are supposed to Edify one another. We’re supposed to build one another up.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (AV)
11Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

So many Christians out there. They’re doing everything they can to tear each other down, people do that in the world all of the time. You kind of understand it when the world does it. But Christians do it all the time. They tear each other down and everything else. It’s like, well, I’m not really better than them. And I can’t, get to where I want to be on my own merit. So I’m going to tear this other person down so I can make myself look better.

And that’s what people do all the time. That’s not what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to be thinking of others more than ourselves. Stop trying to build ourselves up and instead be thinking about what the Lord wants. And what’s best for others.

We’re supposed to Edify one another Galatians chapter six, and verse two says that we’re supposed to bear the burdens of one another. Instead of putting our foot on people’s necks and keeping them down while they’re down and spreading their History all over the place and everything else.

Galatians 6:2 (AV)
2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

We’re supposed to bear the burdens. The Lord Jesus Christ. Didn’t tear people down. As he walked the earth and all that look, the people that he had issues with, you have to admit they weren’t the sinners, they weren’t the publicans and the lepers and the harlots. And that crowd, the sinners, the people he had an issue with were, were the fake religious crowd. The fake religious people, you know, they got their standards, they got their rules and everything else. But they missed the entire point of those things, according to Romans chapter 14 in verse 13, we’re not supposed to sit around judging one another all the time.

Romans 14:13 (AV)
13Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

We’re not supposed to be judging one another, but we need to understand and realize that we’re going to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ.

Romans 15:14 (AV)
14And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

To admonish somebody means to warn them or notify them of a fault. That’s not the same thing as judging them for something. It’s more like this… Hey, I see this going on. This is where it goes. This is what is going to happen. This is how you get it fixed.

Instead here’s what people do, because they think of themselves more than they do others. They, let people go down the wrong path and they let people do the wrong things that way they say, okay, that’s fine because that’s going to come out at some point. And then that’s going to make me look better. We’re not to be that way. That’s not the mind of Christ. The Lord, Jesus Christ. Didn’t do that. He had the right to do that. He could have exposed everything in the world but He didn’t do it. We are Supposed to have the mind of Christ. We’re supposed to consider others more than ourselves. That’s what Jesus did. He considered others more than he considered himself? He laid down everything that he had.

He walked out of the pearly gates left all that behind and came down and placed himself in a womb, which, I mean, I can’t even figure all that out anyway, place himself in a womb, inside a person that he created, in the womb that he created and everything else. And he did that and was born in a manger, nasty, dirty circumstances, everything else, poor family. He preferred others above himself. He thinks of others instead of thinking of himself, the next thing that we’re going to see here, we’ve seen verse number seven not only did he consider others and think of others More so than himself, but here in Philippians, chapter two, verse seven says, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. He serves a person who is of submissive mind, a person who is exercising humility. They, serve.

Servanthood

They serve other people instead of trying to serve themselves and their own interests and all that, they serve other people. He emptied himself. He laid aside all of his attributes as God. He became a man. He wasn’t acting like a man. He wasn’t acting like a servant. He literally became a man and became a servant.

He came to serve. Others, you remember, he washed the feet of the disciples and things along that nature, he came to serve and then he took that body that he placed himself in and he served all the way to his death, the ultimate service that he could provide his sacrifice of that body. He willingly died for others. His entire being was to figure out how he could serve other people. He was trying to serve them. He was trying, to be a blessing to them.

He was trying to bring them back to himself, back to the father. He was trying to reconcile the world unto himself by serving them and showing us the example, a person who is. Living with a submissive mind is a serving person, a person who is looking for opportunities to serve other people, to be a blessing, other people, to help other people serving we’re to be servants.

We are servants; people don’t like to be called servants. But we are servants. We have a master. the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we were bought with a price. We are bought out of the slave market of sin, but we were purchased by the Lord. Jesus Christ. Our body is not our own. We have a master we’re supposed to serve him.

We need to submit ourselves to be servants, stop looking for ways to be served. And instead look for ways that we could be the server.

Sacraficial

The next thing that we have here, I guess it would be the third thing. We find in verse number eight, he says, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death Even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:8 (AV)
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

A person who lives a submissive life. Not only do they consider others more than themselves? Not only are they looking for ways to serve other people but they sacrifice, too many Christians are willing to serve others only if it doesn’t cost them anything. They’re willing to think of other people and to serve other people as long as it doesn’t cost them anything.

I read a story. I don’t know the missionaries name, but there was a missionary that was in Brazil and he was in Brazil and he was going through one of the city markets and they had all the different things that they sell in the city markets. Of course, you know, they had meat that was hanging out there for like three or four days who knows how long and all this other stuff out there. And people were selling their wares and their little trinkets and stuff like that. they had clothing and all that other kind of stuff.

And he comes up to this one booth, and in this booth, there were a bunch of handmade, carved things out of wood and stuff. And on this one side of the whole booth and everything across the entire wall, there’s a bunch of crosses, a bunch of wooden crosses that they had made handmade.

And the sign above the crosses, it said cheap crosses. And the missionary said, that’s the problem with most Christians, they’re looking for a cheap cross. They’re looking for a cheap one. The Lord didn’t have a cheap cross. His sacrifice cost him something. The submissive mind does not avoid sacrifice. They live for the glory of God. That’s what the apostle Paul demonstrated. He didn’t have a cheap sacrifice. He was willing to sacrifice anything and everything that he needed to sacrifice.

He said I have become all things to all men. And that by all means, I might save some. He was willing to give up anything and everything that he had to give up. He was willing to humble himself anyway, that he needed to humble himself if he needed to go to prison. So be it, if he needed to get kicked out of town. So be it, if he needs to be stoned to death and dragged outside of the city gates. So be it, if he had to humble himself underneath the Jews, and take a vow and go through all that stuff. Even though he didn’t believe in any of that anymore, he was willing to do it. Why? So that he could reach some people, he was willing to sacrifice anything and everything that he needed to sacrifice for the cause of Christ.

And if we’re living submissive mind, we’re going to have that attitude. We need to be willing to sacrifice. Too many Christians, they’re not willing to sacrifice anything. King David said at one point he was going to buy the threshing floor from Araunah, he wanted to pay for the threshing floor. AndAraunah said, Hey, I’ll tell you what man, you’re the king. I’ll give it to you. No problem. Matter of fact, I’ll tell you what, I got a bunch of cattle over here. I’ll give you the cattle too. So you got all that stuff you can sacrifice to the Lord, everything else, you know free and David, rejected it. David said that the offering would be worthless if it did not cost him anything. (2 Samuel 24).

Too many Christians. We’re not willing to sacrifice anything because we’re not willing to humble ourselves and sacrifice. We don’t want sacrifice. We want an easy life. A lot of people were, quote-unquote won to the Lord, with that promise. It’s going to be an easy life. All your problems are going to go away. Everything is going to be great.

Everything is going to be great. And all your problems are going to go away, just not today. But whatever problems that you’re going to go through, you’re much better off to go through them with the Lord than without the Lord. There’s still going to be better. They’re just not going to go away. I wish I could tell you that all your problems are going to go away and you’re not going to have any problems. You’re not going to have migraines anymore. You’re not going to have aches. You’re not going to have pains. You’re all going to have sore ankles.

I wish I could tell you that. No more disease, no more sadness. No more tears. You know all the other stuff that Joel Olsteen says that you can have today, he’s a liar. That’s not what the Bible teaches at all, but you’re much better off when you go through those things with the Lord, rather than without him.

The submissive mind, doesn’t avoid the sacrifices we need to be willing to sacrifice for the Lord. It’s our reasonable service. Present your bodies, a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. It’s reasonable. It’s Romans chapter 12, reasonable written to Gentiles by the apostle to the Gentiles.

We are supposed to present our bodies, a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which means if you don’t present your body as a living sacrifice, you’re not holy and acceptable unto the Lord. And we do it because it’s our reasonable service. It’s just reasonable. You don’t get, you don’t get a bozo button. You don’t get a pat on the back. You don’t get a promotion. You don’t get a trophy. Don’t even get a promise of a reward. It’s just reasonable. We get irritated with people when they don’t do the reasonable thing, Like use their turn signal on the interstate.

We get irritated when people don’t do the reasonable thing, like say, thank you when you hold the door open for them, or when you say good morning or hello or whatever other greeting it is, and they completely ignore you. We figured that’s unreasonable and that’s irritating. And that’s very minor after everything that the Lord has done for us it’s just reasonable that we would sacrifice for him.

We would sacrifice our wellbeing. We would sacrifice our opportunities. We would sacrifice anything that he would have us to sacrifice for him and for his cause it’s worth it. And it’s just reasonable.. It’s the minimum. People. We want to talk about the good servant and all that stuff.

Well, I’m a good servant because I do everything the Lord tells me to do that. Doesn’t make you a good servant. That just makes you an average servant. So what, okay, so you go to work and you do what your job parameters say that you have to do every day. And then you expect a pat on the back for that. That was your job. You didn’t go above and beyond. You didn’t do anything extra. That doesn’t make you a good employee. It doesn’t make you a good servant.

You just do the bare minimum, what the Lord tells you to do. And you think that that means one day, he’s going to say, well done, good and faithful servant. No, that was the minimum. That was just reasonable. That was just reasonable. That’s not going to get you those accolades from the Lord.

We need to be willing to sacrifice. He was willing to sacrifice his life. We should be willing to sacrifice anything up to and including our lives for the cause for Christ, plenty of people in history have had to do it. We’re blessed enough. That, as terrible and awful and despicable as this country has become. It’s still the best one to live in right now.

The gospel still goes out of this country, more so than any other country on the globe. Right now, this country still puts out more missionaries than anybody else does. So the Lord’s continuing to bless us in as much as that much goes, right. We need to be willing to sacrifice it all though, we need to be willing to sacrifice and go to one of those other places. If that’s where the Lord has called you to be, we need to be willing to sacrifice whatever it is that we need to sacrifice for the cause of the Lord, he was. We don’t have to worry about losing our lives right now.

Like I said, this country is pushing the gospel and I mean, it tries to push everything else too. It is getting worse and worse. It’s trying, it’s really trying to, muffle the gospel as much as it can get away with these days, it is going to continue getting worse and worse and worse. It’s not going to get better.

It’s called entropy. The people who always want to stand on science somehow completely miss the, the law of entropy. They don’t understand it. It’s going to continue getting worse. It may come down to a fact where we’re going to have to sacrifice our freedom, sacrifice our very lives. Look, it’s not that far removed.

There are preachers in Canada right now, that are being thrown into prison for having church services. The law just shows up at the church and comes and puts the shackles on them and carts them away because they’re having church in the midst of COVID.

It’s not that far away. It’s not that far removed. We need to be willing to sacrifice, sacrifice and service. They go together. If you’re going to serve and you need to be willing to sacrifice.

Glorify the Lord

The last thing that we see here, a person who lives with a submissive mind Is it that that person glorifies God.

Philippians 2:9–11 (AV)
9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The entire purpose of the humiliation and sacrifice of the Lord. Jesus Christ was to bring glory to God. That’s what Jesus said in John chapter 17. Jesus said that everything he did, that he did it to glorify the Father and the person that lives with a submissive mind. That is what enables you to live in the humility of mind and to be submissive to the will of God and to the cause for Christ is because the purpose that you’re doing it is so that you may glorify God.

That’s what makes it all worth it? No matter what it is that you have to go through, no matter how bad it is and no matter how awful it is. And sometimes it is bad and very awful. I’m not going to lie to you and say that it’s not, I’m not going to sugar coat it and act like the things that you’re going through aren’t really that big of a deal, they are! But they’re worth it because if you do it appropriately it’s going to bring glory to God. And that’s our entire purpose is to bring him glory.

And that’s what it means to be a disciple.

We have the example of the Lord, Jesus Christ, how it is that that we ought to conduct ourselves and live our lives in submission. Again, he submitted himself, he humbled himself and if God, the creator can humble himself for the betterment of others. Who are we to refuse to do so?

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.