"Building on a dozen studies correlating friendship and fellowship with health, a new study has found that people with a broad array of social ties are significantly less likely to catch colds than those with sparse social networks," reported The New York Times News Service.

Researchers have found similar health benefits from relationships for heart disease patients. In one study Dr. Redford Williams, director of the behavioral medicine research center at Duke University Medical Center, "found that heart disease patients with few social ties are six times as likely to die within six months as those with many relatives, friends and acquaintances."

Reportedly, one of the main beneficiaries of a broadened network of relationships is our immune system. In another study, Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, director of health psychology at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, and her husband, Dr. Ronald Glaser, a virologist at Ohio State, "have reported that a person's immune response to vaccines increases with the strength of his or her social support."

Good relationships are essential to life. To live a full life we each need a healthy relationship to God as well as healthy relationships with others. As Mark Twain once said, "To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with."

That is the major theme of the book of the Bible which we are going to dip into today. The book is Paul's letter to the Church at Philippi. The theme is joy.

Let us read the opening words of Paul's letter to this group of people whom he came to love so much:

Christianity is a relationship not a religion. In this one sentence Paul refers to four relationships that are absolutely essential to our lives as Christians. First of all there is our relationship with other Christians; that is the channel for joy. There is our relationship to Christ Jesus; he is the source of joy. Then there is our relationship to non-Christians; that is the place where our joy in Christ should overflow. And finally there is the relationship of God the Father and God the Son; this is the model of joy.

First of all, let's talk about relationships with Christians, the channel for joy. I believe the Lord wants us to choose joy in relationship to other Christians. The first relationship we see in this passage is Paul's relationship to Timothy. You will remember from our study of Acts that Paul met Timothy on his second missionary journey just before he and his companions took off for Philippi. Paul took this young disciple under his wing, so to speak, and took him along on his journey to Philippi. Thus Timothy was well known to the church there. Timothy later became Paul's representative to various churches. They developed together a father-son relationship in the faith. By the end of his life, there was no one whom the Apostle Paul felt closer to than Timothy. And it is just those kind of relationships that can turn the world upside down. Just two Christians coming together like that with the goal of loving the Lord, loving each other, and loving others into the kingdom of Jesus Christ has a profound impact upon the world.

We also see reflected in this passage Paul's relationship with the Church at Philippi. Paul writes to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons.

The Church at Philippi started as a small group. When Paul arrived in Philippi he was not able to follow his normal pattern of evangelization. Normally Paul would go first to the synagogue in a given city and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews. But there were not enough Jewish men in Philippi to form a synagogue. So Paul somehow found out about a group of women who apparently followed the teachings of the Old Testament and gathered by the riverside, outside of the city gate, for prayer. Paul and his companions went to that group of women and preached the gospel to them. A wealthy woman named Lydia, who was a dealer in purple cloth, became a believer in Jesus Christ. This prominent woman was the first convert on the continent of Europe. So the church in Philippi was born through a small group ministry. Christians meeting in small groups for the purpose of prayer, teaching, worship, fellowship and evangelism can have a powerful impact on the world. With whom are you building relationships in the body of Christ?

Now I recognize that not all relationships are positive. Some time ago I read a story that came from the Associated Press. They reported about a Dallas, Texas man who had a disagreement with a bank. His home sat adjacent to a tract of land on which the bank planned to build a new facility. The bank wanted to buy his home and knock it down.

The man said, "No deal!" His property was appraised at $86, 350, and he claimed that the bank had offered only $68,000. The bank claimed it had offered more than that.

Ninety years old, the man had lived in his house for some fifty years. He didn't have to sell his home, and so he decided he wouldn't. The bank wanted to build, and so it decided it would. The result is a new bank building shaped like a horseshoe around the man's home. An automatic teller machine dispenses cash fifteen feet from where he sleeps. The cars of drive-through customers idle in front of his kitchen window.

The bank and the ninety year old man may be adjacent to each other, but they can scarcely be called neighbors. Often relationships in the church work like that. We work around each other, rather than working together. Those who walk in love need to do more than co-exist, they need to cooperate.

Relationships with other Christians are essential to your growth in Christ because they are God's channel to bring you joy. Paul prayed with joy for the Philippians because of their relationship with him. I recognize that not all relationships are joyful ones. Because we are sinners we often hurt one another, often deeply. But in Christ there is hope, in Christ there is the ability to forgive. In Christ there are never ending opportunities for reconciliation. We all know of broken marriages, fractured friendships, severed relationships between parents and children, church splits--and all of these are, in some way, a result of sin. Bottom line: relationships bring pain and we don't want any more pain. But I believe Jesus would say to us today that joy in relationship to other Christians is possible in the midst of pain. Jesus can give us joy, but we have to accept his joy and conduct our relationships on his terms. In him we can find joy in relationships.

The second relationship which Paul mentions in his opening greeting is the Christian's relationship to Christ, the source of joy. He calls himself and Timothy -- servants of Christ Jesus. And he writes to the Philippian Christians whom he calls saints in Christ Jesus. Relationships with other Christians are the channel for God's joy, but they are not the ultimate source of joy.

So many people get frustrated with human relationships because they look to those relationships as the source of joy. No mere human being can be the source of joy for you. We are all finite. Furthermore, we are all sinful. So we need to change our expectations of relationships. Don't look to your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your work associates, your friends, your pastor, or your church to be your source of joy. All of these relationships will fail at some time.

We need to look to Jesus as the source of our joy. When we are in him then we can have joy. There is joy in being his servant and his saint. To be Christ's saints means that we are set apart; we are set apart to serve him.

Don McCullough writes in Waking from the American Dream:

Seldom does serving Christ involve a prominent or glamorous job. Often in serving Christ we must be "deep in the earth with our faces to the coal." But there is joy in serving Christ as in serving no other. For one day there will be a great parade, not in Piccadilly Circus, but along the streets of Christ's eternal kingdom, and seven words from Christ will bring us everlasting joy in that day if we have served him well on earth. Those seven words that will bring great joy will be: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!"

The third relationship that Paul talks about here is the relationship of Christians to non-Christians, the overflow of joy. Where do I get that out of the text? Paul is writing to the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi. In each of his letters Paul writes to people who are within a certain geography. Christians are always related to a place, and in many of Paul's letters, especially this one to the Philippians, they are related to a city.

Now earlier I mentioned that the Church at Philippi was born through a small group ministry. But it is also true that the Church in Philippi grew through small group ministry. This next small group we are going to look at met in prison, and it was an evangelistic small group.

Some time after Lydia's conversion, Paul and his friends were on their way to the place of prayer when a slave girl who was possessed by a demon, and who told fortunes, started following them and shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved."

Now you would think that Paul would be grateful for the publicity, but apparently the manner in which this woman was talking became very irritating to Paul. So he turned to the woman and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" And at that moment the demon left her.

Now the owners of this slave girl realized that their hope of making money through her fortune-telling was gone. So they seized Paul and one of his companions, Silas, and brought them before the authorities. Their charge against Paul and Silas was that they were Jews and that they were advocating customs unlawful for Romans to practice. In other words, Paul and Silas were telling people to worship Jesus instead of Caesar. The authorities then beat Paul and Silas and threw them into prison.

So far, Paul's mission to Philippi does not sound very successful. But here is the rest of the story. While Paul and Silas were in prison they sang hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening. That's the small group ministry I was talking about. Next, God sent an earthquake and all of their chains were loosed. The jailer woke up, and thinking that his prisoners had escaped, he drew his sword to kill himself, rather than face the humiliation of execution by his superiors for having lost his prisoners. But Paul, cried out to the jailer through the pitch black darkness and said, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

The jailer, startled by all of these events, and overwhelmed by Paul's compassion, fell trembling before Paul and Silas and asked the immortal question, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household." So the Philippian jailer became the third convert, that we know about, in Philippi. And he came to know Christ through a small group meeting in a prison.

Jesus wants us to have a vision for our community. He wants us to have a vision for loving non-Christians who are in our communities; he wants us to love them into the City of God. Jesus wants us to overflow with joy on to the non-Christians that we know so that they get swept up in the current.

Our relationships with non-Christians are the means which the Lord is going to use to bring them into a relationship with himself and with his church. The following letter which my friend Tim Hansel, a teacher, received from a former student illustrates this:

The Lord wants you to choose joy in relationship to other Christians. He wants you to find your source of joy in serving him. He wants you to overflow joy on to non-Christians so that they will be drawn to the Savior. But how do you do it? How do you choose joy, find joy, and overflow joy? The only way is by God's grace.

Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace-that is the key to choosing joy, finding joy to begin with, and overflowing joy. Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense. God loves us so much that he gave what was most valuable to him, his Son, so that we could experience joy. Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead to pay the penalty, to conquer, to forgive our sins. And sin is the thing that will steal joy every time. For sin is basically self-centeredness. Sin has a big "I" in the center. And we will never know true joy so long as we are living for ourselves. Jesus died to free us from the prison of our own self-centeredness and to give us his joy. Joy is a choice. It is a choice we can make because God gives it to us as a gift.

The perfect model of joy is relationship in the Trinity. St. Augustine formulated a doctrine of the Trinity where he referred to God the Father as the Lover, Jesus the Son as the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit as the love between them. In the Trinity there is modeled the perfect relationship of love and joy. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit want to bring us in on that relationship, a relationship of great love and joy.

C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that "God is not a static thing-not even a person-but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. The union between the Father and Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. . . . What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God.

"This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the 'spirit' of God. . . . this spirit of love is, from all eternity, a love going on between the Father and Son.

"And now, what does it all matter? It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. . . . If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry." (Mere Christianity, pp. 152-153.)

Are you looking for joy? Of course you are. We all are. And the only way to find joy is to enter into the Great Dance with our Triune God.  Shall we dance?

Choose Joy through Prayer

Philippians 1:3-11

A pastor and a bus driver went to heaven. The bus driver got a big beautiful mansion with large rooms. The preacher got only a one-room bungalow, so he went to St. Peter and said, "How come I got a very small place and the bus driver got that beautiful house? I've preached the Good News all my life!"

That was the prayer of the great explorer, Sir Francis Drake. It could easily have been the prayer of the Apostle Paul. Paul saw himself as a pioneer for Jesus Christ, one who was taking the good news about Jesus where no other person had gone before.

Sometimes we get so mired down in our own negative circumstances, whether it be struggling to get somewhere on time, struggling with the ATM machine, struggling in marriage, struggling in our jobs, struggling with our kids, that we miss the big picture of what life is all about.

Paul gives us a glimpse of his personal life and struggles in Philippians 1:12-30. In these verses he teaches us how to choose joy in spite of our circumstances. In these few verses I believe the Lord wants us to see that it is possible for us to choose joy in spite of our circumstances if we will have the right task, the right relationship and the right destination in our lives. Let's read together God's Word from Philippians 1:12-30 and get the big picture of life that God wants us to have:

The first thing we need to see from this passage is that we can choose joy in spite of our circumstances by living to advance the good news. The spreading of the good news about Jesus was the right task which Paul had as his number one priority.

When Paul refers to "what has happened to him" he is probably talking about his imprisonment in Rome. He says that this imprisonment has served to advance the gospel. The Greek word Paul uses for advance was used of engineers who would go out and clear a path for an army to follow. In other words, Paul saw his circumstances as clearing a path for the advance of the good news about Jesus.

Is that the way we look at our circumstances? If it is, then that will change our whole perspective on suffering. And we can have joy in the midst of suffering.

Happiness is dependent upon pleasant circumstances; joy is not. Happiness comes from the same Latin root for happening. Happiness is dependent upon certain happenings. But joy is possible even in the midst of pain because joy comes from the Lord and not from our circumstances.

Corrie ten Boom, as many of you know, was a Christian who survived a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Corrie and her family members were placed in prison because they had harbored Jews in their home in Holland. But Corrie and her sister Betsie discovered joy in the midst of that prison camp because they lived to share the good news about Jesus Christ with others who were there.

By God's grace we can choose joy in spite of our circumstances. Whether our painful circumstances involve physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual suffering, we can still choose joy if our focus is on advancing the good news of Jesus Christ.

How did Paul's circumstances advance the good news? He says that as a result of his imprisonment "it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ." While Paul was under house arrest in Rome he was being guarded by the praetorian guard. This was an elite group of 9 or 10,000 military men hand-picked to guard the emperor and other important officials of the Roman government. And they were guarding Paul! Paul always had one of these men guarding him, and every time the shift changed Paul had a new man whom he could tell about Jesus!

Do we view our circumstances, job, neighborhood, school, even our suffering, as a platform from which God is giving us the opportunity to advance the good news about Jesus? That's the way Paul looked at his circumstances and it is the way we should look at ours.

Paul also says that because of his chains most of the Christians in Rome have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. As someone once said, "One man with courage makes a majority." Paul had courage. He wasn't afraid to face death because of his proclamation of the good news. He had nothing to lose, so he proclaimed the good news boldly in every situation. And Paul's courage encouraged other believers to be bold in telling others about Jesus. By the courage that God gives are we doing the same?

Paul mentions that some Christians in Rome are preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry. This is an amazing thing, but it happens in our day too. Many ministers actually view themselves as in competition with one another. Some preachers in Paul's day viewed themselves as being in competition with Paul. So they thought they would make Paul jealous by preaching up a storm while Paul was under house arrest where he could not preach so widely. How ridiculous!

Paul rejoiced whenever Christ was preached and so should we. If our focus is on being pioneers to advance the good news in whatever situation where God has planted us then we will experience joy, because nothing can hinder the gospel. It is the power of God to change people's lives. You can't lose if that is your focus in life. As Jesus said, "Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live." (Mark 8:35, T. L. B.)

Secondly, we can choose joy in spite of our circumstances by living to lift up Christ. Paul discovered through his many sufferings the great truth that he could exalt, that is lift up, Jesus Christ in any and every situation. Because Paul put his relationship with Christ first in his life he was able to choose joy in every circumstance, because nothing could ever take away that relationship with Christ.

Paul said, "Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance." The word for deliverance can also be translated salvation. Paul believed that his imprisonment was actually going to work out to his highest good by Jesus being lifted up through his life.

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." Paul wanted first and foremost to live for Christ and die for Christ. And Paul had a hard time deciding which would be better. He says, "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

"For me, to live is _________." How you fill in the blank in that sentence will determine whether or not you experience joy. If you put anything else in the blank other than Christ you will not have joy, and dying won't be a gain to you. If "for you to live is your family" you won't have lasting joy. If "for you to live is your job," you won't have lasting joy. If "for you to live is golf" you won't have lasting joy. Your wife, your kids, your job, your leisure activities will all eventually disappoint you or run out on you. The only lasting joy is in living for Christ. As someone once said: "Life is what you are alive to." If you are alive to Jesus Christ, then death will be positive for you, not negative.

It is interesting to note how people face death. People generally die the way that they live. If you live for Christ you will die for him and you will die with hope and joy. If you live for yourself you will die with yourself, alone and in despair.

In 1920, Sigmund Freud, the founder of modern psychology, lost through death a young and beautiful daughter. He wrote that he wondered when his time would come and he wished it would be soon. "I do not know what more there is today," he wrote. "It is such a paralyzing event, which can stir no afterthoughts when one is not a believer. . . ." Freud later took his own life while he was suffering from cancer.

In contrast, consider the life of atheist-turned-Christian, C. S. Lewis. In a letter written just a few weeks before his own death in 1963 C. S. Lewis said, "I was unexpectedly revived from a long coma, and perhaps the almost continuous prayers of my friends did it - it would have been a luxuriously easy passage, and one almost regrets having the door shut in one's face." Then in his last letter to a woman friend Lewis said, "Thanks for your note. Yes, Autumn is really the best part of the seasons; and I'm not sure that old age isn't the best part of life. But, of course, like Autumn it doesn't last."

C. S. Lewis died as he lived, with hope and joy in Christ. Sigmund Freud died as he lived, not trusting in Christ for eternal life, and so he died in despair.

The choice is ours. But if we want to have joy in spite of our circumstances, if we want to have joy even as we face death, then we must live for Christ now. That is the right relationship that needs to be central in each of our lives.

This leads to the third point which is that we can choose joy in spite of our circumstances by living as citizens of heaven. We cannot have a sense of destiny, purpose and joy in life without having the right destination as our goal. Paul writes in verse 27: "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." The phrase "conduct yourselves" literally means "act as citizens." The Philippians were Roman citizens because Philippi was a Roman colony. The Philippians had all the rights and privileges of being citizens of Rome. They even dressed like Romans.

In Philippians 3:20 Paul tells them that they are citizens of heaven. Paul uses citizenship as a metaphor for belonging to Christ. And in Philippians 1:27-30 Paul mentions 4 marks of the heavenly citizen.

The first mark of the heavenly citizen is steadfastness. Paul says, "Whatever happens," that is whether he is released from prison or whether he is sentenced to execution, "conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm . . ." Above all else, Paul wanted the Philippians to persevere in spreading the gospel.

In 1992 Beth Anne DeCiantis attempted to qualify for the Olympic Trials marathon. In order to do that she had to complete a 26 mile, 385 yard race in under two hours and forty five minutes.

Beth started the race strong but began having problems around mile 23. Still, she reached the final straightaway in two hours and forty three minutes. Two hundred yards from the finish she stumbled and fell. She had trouble standing up again. But the crowd yelled, "Get up!" and she did, with less than a minute to go.

Then five yards short of the finish line, with ten seconds to go, she fell again. She began to crawl. And with the crowd cheering her on she crossed the finish line on her hands and knees. Her time was two hours, 44 minutes, 57 seconds!

Hebrews 12:1 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

That story reminds me of what C. S. Lewis once wrote in a letter to a correspondent: "No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be v. muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up."

The second mark of a heavenly citizen is solidarity. We will be talking more about unity next week as we examine the first half of chapter 2 of Philippians. But Paul at this point introduces the topic of solidarity by saying: "stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel."

The mark of a heavenly citizen, the mark of a true Christian, is that he or she stands in unity with other true Christians. And this unity, this solidarity, is absolutely essential to the success of the Church.

I heard a story about a man who, when he was in school, used to be on the crew team. Every afternoon they would practice rowing together as a team. On one afternoon as this young man made his way down to the river by his school he was absolutely elated. He couldn't wait to get out on the river and give it all he had for his team. After practice he walked back to the dorms with a friend feeling absolutely dejected. He said to his friend, "I don't understand. I was giving it all I had, rowing as hard as I could this afternoon, and it seemed like we were going nowhere." His team-mate responded, "That's funny. I wasn't pulling at all, and I felt we were doing splendidly!"

To be a successful team of Christians, requires the same thing that being a successful crew team requires - solidarity. It requires unity in rowing and an all-out commitment on the part of every member of the team. If we are citizens of heaven, then solidarity with other Christians should mark our lives.

The third mark of the heavenly citizen is security. Paul says: "... without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you." Paul is encouraging the Philippians, "Don't be scared by those who oppose the good news. Get out there and share it anyway." The number one reason most Christians give for not telling others about Jesus is fear. Usually it is fear of rejection that paralyzes us. But the Lord is saying to us today, "You don't have to be afraid of non-Christians. You can be secure in your relationship with Christ. And your security, your lack of fear, will be a sign to them." At the very end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy these words, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline." God has not given us a spirit of fear toward other people. So we must not let our fears paralyze us, we need to tap into God's power and love and self-discipline.

The fourth mark of the heavenly citizen is suffering. Paul says: "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."

One thing is guaranteed in this life: we will suffer. As Sheldon Kopp has written: "Life can be counted on to provide all the pain that any of us might need."

The question is whether we will suffer with Christ or without him. Will we choose joy in the midst of our suffering, or not?

An American pastor was leading a worship service while on a short term mission trip to the island of Tobago. The service was held at a leper colony. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit suddenly turned around. It was the most hideous face the pastor had ever seen: nose and ears were entirely eaten away by the disease. The woman lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, "Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?"

Overcome with emotion, the pastor left the service. He was followed by a team member who said, "I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again."

"Yes I will," the pastor replied, "but I will never sing it the same way again."

If a believer in Jesus Christ can choose joy in the midst of that kind of suffering-perhaps you and I can too, by God's grace.

Choose Joy through Unity

Philippians 2:1-11

A high school orchestra was preparing for a concert that featured a pianist in a rendition of Grieg's A-minor concerto. Before the performance, it was customary for the orchestra to tune up with an "A" sounded by the oboe player. But the oboist was a practical joker, and he had tuned his instrument a half step higher than the piano. You can imagine the effect. After the pianist played a beautiful introduction, the members of the orchestra joined in. What confusion! Every instrument was out of tune with the piano.

If we are going to effectively play the concerto of the Good News about Jesus Christ so that this world will hear it, understand it, and respond positively to it, then we must be unified as a church.

Unity is the topic that the Apostle Paul deals with in this next section of his letter to the Church at Philippi. Let's read together Philippians 2:1-11. Hear the Word of God. . . .

Why should you choose joy through unity? Paul gives you four reasons to do so. First of all, you should choose joy through unity in the church because you have been united with Christ. If Christ is living in you by his Holy Spirit then you have literally been joined to him. And if all believers in Christ are joined to him that also means we are joined to one another. If you are a Christian then you need to recognize and realize your unity with other Christians which Jesus Christ has already put into effect.

Comedian Emo Philips used to tell this story: In conversation with a person I had recently met, I asked, "Are you Protestant or Catholic?"

My new acquaintance replied, "Protestant."

I said, "Me too! What franchise?"

He answered, "Baptist."

"Me too!" I said. "Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"

"Northern Baptist," he replied.

"Me too!" I shouted.

We continued to go back and forth. Finally I asked, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1879 or Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912?"

He replied, "Northern conservative fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region, Council of 1912."

I said, "Die, heretic!"

That story would be even funnier if it weren't so true. And the same thing could be said about Presbyterians. What we so often fail to recognize as American Christians living at the beginning of the twenty-first century is that if we are Christians then we are joined to Christ and we are also joined to other Christians, whether they be Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox, or whatever shade of Protestant. We need to recognize and realize the unity that Christ has already brought about.

The second reason Paul gives for choosing joy through unity is because of Christ's love. If you have truly experienced the love of Jesus, that contra-conditional, in-spite-of-your-sin kind of love, then you will want to love other believers in Christ. It is when we forget how much God has forgiven us and loved us in Christ that we find it difficult to love other believers.

John Newton is remembered for his hymn Amazing Grace. In his later years, Newton often lost his memory in the pulpit and had to be reminded of the subject about which he had been preaching. He said, "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Jesus is a great Savior." If we would remember those two things: that we are great sinners, and that Jesus loved us so much that he gave his life for us, we will be encouraged to love and seek unity with fellow believers.

A third reason Paul gives for choosing joy through unity is because of the fellowship we have with the Holy Spirit. Fellowship, relationship with the Holy Spirit is not just a "me and the Spirit" kind of experience. If you are a Christian then you have fellowship with the Holy Spirit and with every other Christian who has fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

The famous Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, was on a streetcar one day in Basel, Switzerland. A tourist to the city climbed on and sat down next to Barth. The two men started chatting with each other. "Are you new to the city?" Barth inquired. "Yes," said the tourist. "Is there anything you would particularly like to see in this city?" asked Barth. "Yes," said the tourist, "I'd love to meet the famous theologian Karl Barth. Do you know him?" Barth replied, "Well, as a matter of fact, I do. I give him a shave every morning." The tourist got off the streetcar quite delighted. He went back to his hotel saying to himself, "I met Karl Barth's barber today."

Every Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a person in whom Christ actually lives by His Spirit. But how often we sit next to other believers, eat with them, sing with them, yet fail to see that we have been in the presence of the Holy Spirit himself.

That reminds me of the luncheon a man put on once to which he invited quite a number of his friends, many of whom were famous people. As the host said a prayer at the beginning of the luncheon he also said to his assembled guests: "Just remember that the most interesting person in the room is the one you are sitting next to!"

Are you the kind of person who walks into a room and says, "Here I am!" Or are you the kind of person who walks into a room and says, "There you are!" I think Jesus wants us and will enable us to be the latter.

The fourth reason Paul gives for choosing joy through unity is because of tenderness and compassion. One of my favorite movies is On Golden Pond with Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn. They play this aging couple who are trying to come to terms with their daughter's divorce and relationship with a new man. The daughter is played by Jane Fonda. The aging couple is also trying to get reacquainted with their teenage grandson whom they have never spent much time with. The movie is all about friction in family relationships and how unity can be achieved. The grandfather is kind of a surly character who is not dealing well with the aging process. His wife calls him "You old poop!" After one wrenching scene where the grandfather yells at his grandson and the grandson can't understand his grandfather's anger, Katharine Hepburn makes a great statement to the boy. She says, "Sometimes you have to look people straight in the eye and know that they are doing the best job they possibly can."

Sometimes it is hard to have tenderness and compassion toward one another, even as fellow Christians. But if we have the tenderness and compassion of Christ in our hearts then we will look our surly brother or sister in the eye and either know that they are doing the best job they possibly can under the circumstances, or that even if they aren't doing their best job, we can forgive them in Christ.

But this raises the question: How do you choose joy through unity? Paul says, "If you have these reasons to realize unity in the church, and you do, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." Paul wants the Philippians to be unified in mind, emotion and will. Unity must first be based upon the truth of God's Word. But if unity starts in the mind it flows over into the emotions and the will.

Then Paul goes on to tell us how to realize our unity. He gives two practical handles for steering the ship of the church toward unity. The first practical handle is humility. Paul says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."

What is humility? Humility is the mind-set of the person who is not conceited but who has a right evaluation of himself. Paul says in Romans 12:3, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." It is false humility to say, "I'm nobody. I'm worthless. But you are wonderful." The person who says that is still preoccupied with himself or herself.

What does Paul mean by: "Consider others better than yourselves."? He certainly doesn't mean that everyone else is superior or more talented than you. Paul doesn't say, "Everyone else is better than you." He says, "Consider others better than yourselves." Imagine what life in the church would be like if each of us gave preferential treatment to all the others. We would be stumbling over one another trying to serve each other. That is, I think, what Paul means by, "Consider others better than yourselves." Don't act out of selfish motives but do what is best for everyone else.

Chuck Swindoll writes, "What does the Lord do to help broaden my horizons and assist me in seeing how selfish I am? Very simple: He gives me four busy kids who step on shoes, wrinkle clothes, spill milk, lick car windows, and drop sticky candy on the carpet. . . . Being unselfish in attitude strikes at the very core of our being. It means we are willing to forego our own comfort, our own preferences, our own schedule, our own desires for another's benefit." That's humility. That's considering others better than yourself.

The second handle Paul gives us for choosing joy through unity is: helpfulness. He says, "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Humility should naturally lead to helpfulness. Considering others better than yourself should lead to helping others.

While I was in Oxford several summers ago, I lived around the corner from the house where Edmund Halley once lived. Halley was the man who predicted the return of the comet that now bears his name. He was a friend of Isaac Newton and recognized the importance of Newton's discovery of the law of gravity. Halley challenged Newton to perfect his original idea and corrected some of his mathematical equations. Halley then urged Newton to put his ideas into book form. The work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, made Newton famous. What few people know is that Halley edited and supervised its publication and even financed its printing, though Newton could more easily have afforded it. Historians today call Halley's action one of the most selfless examples in the records of modern science.

If you count others better than yourself, you will seek to help them and put their interests before your own. And your humility and helpfulness will foster unity in the Body of Christ. Who is there in this church who you could help in some way this week? Is there someone to whom you could write an encouraging note? Is there someone who is sick and needs a meal? Is there someone who needs help watching their kids? Find a need and fill it. And as you do you will be promoting unity in the church.

But Paul doesn't leave us there. He doesn't just tell us to pursue unity through humility and helpfulness. He gives us an example to follow in order to achieve unity in the church. Whose example can you follow to choose joy through unity? The example of Jesus Christ.

Jesus thought of others, not himself. Paul says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing." Because Jesus thought of others, not himself, he gave up his privileges as God and became a human being so that you and I could be rescued from our sinful condition.

Warren Wiersbe writes, "A reporter was interviewing a successful job counselor who had placed hundreds of workers in their vocations quite happily. When asked the secret of his success, the man replied: ?If you want to find out what a worker is really like, don't give him responsibilities-give him privileges. Most people can handle responsibilities if you pay them enough, but it takes a real leader to handle privileges. A leader will use his privileges to help others and build the organization; a lesser man will use privileges to promote himself.' Jesus used his heavenly privileges for the sake of others-for our sake."

Secondly, Jesus is our example in that he serves. ". . . taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Jesus constantly served people throughout his life. He healed people; he fed people; he washed his disciples dirty feet. Jesus said of himself, ". . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve . . ." (Matthew 20:28)

During the War Between the States, General George B. McClellan was put in charge of the great Army of the Potomac, mainly because public opinion was on his side. He fancied himself to be a great military leader and enjoyed hearing the people call him "a Young Napoleon." However, his performance was less than sensational. President Lincoln commissioned him General-in-Chief, hoping this would get some action; but still he procrastinated. One evening, Lincoln and two of his staff members went to visit McClellan, only to learn that he was at a wedding. The three men sat down to wait, and an hour later the general arrived home. Without paying attention to the president, McClellan went upstairs and did not return. Half an hour later, Lincoln sent the servant to tell McClellan that the men were waiting. The servant came back to report McClellan had gone to bed!

His associates were angry, but Lincoln merely got up and led the way home. "This is no time to be making points of etiquette and personal dignity," the president explained. "I would hold McClellan's horse if he will only bring us success." That is the attitude of a servant. It was the attitude of Christ. And the Lord wants it to be our attitude as well.

Thirdly, Jesus is our example in that he sacrifices. "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!" Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice. He gave his life to pay the penalty for sinners like you and me. In one sense we cannot imitate his sacrifice. We cannot give our lives in payment for sinners because we ourselves are sinners. But we are called to carry our own crosses. Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)

At a religious festival in Brazil, a missionary was going from booth to booth, examining the wares. He saw a sign above one booth: "Cheap Crosses." He thought to himself, "That's what many Christians are looking for these days-cheap crosses. My Lord's cross was not cheap. Why should mine be?" If you follow the example of Jesus you will sacrifice yourself for others, and that sacrifice will not be cheap.

Finally, Jesus is our example in that he glorifies God. The early Christian hymn which Paul quotes here tells us that because Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 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." The ultimate purpose of Christ's life, death, resurrection, ascension and present reign is the glory, the honor of God. Right before his death Jesus said, "Father, the time has come; glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." (John 17:1)

In the same way, if we follow Jesus' example, thinking of others, serving others, sacrificing for others, then it will ultimately lead to the glory of the Father. A son or daughter who has a good parent rejoices to see their parent honored. So, we too should count it joy that our Father in heaven should be honored through our sacrificial service. After all, he gave his Son so that we might live. Why then shouldn't we lay down our lives for him in return?

In the book, The Fire of Your Life, Maggie Ross recounts the story of Emma, a survivor of the Holocaust, who regularly at 4 p.m. each day stood outside a Manhattan church and screamed insults at Jesus. Finally, the pastor, Bishop C. Kilmer Myers, went outside and said to Emma, "Why don't you go inside and tell him?" She disappeared into the church. An hour went by, and the bishop, worried, decided to look in on her. He found Emma, prostrate before the cross, absolutely still. Reaching down, he touched her shoulder. She looked up with tears in her eyes and said quietly, "After all, he was a Jew, too."

When we realize how much Christ gave for us, how much he suffered for us, how can we not lay down our lives for him, to the glory of God the Father? We should do that. The problem is, we can't and we don't, in and of ourselves. I am not naturally a person who seeks unity. I am not naturally a humble and helpful person. I don't naturally want to follow the example of Jesus Christ. And neither do you. That is the essence of sin. We are so wrapped up in ourselves that we can't unravel our own self-centeredness. But thankfully, Jesus lived and died and rose again to free us from the prison of our own selfishness. And if he comes into your life by his Holy Spirit then he will free you too; he will free you to be one of those who bows the knee and confesses with the tongue that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Choose Joy through Sacrifice

Philippians 2:12-18

Along I-10 in Louisiana there used to be a large billboard which caught the eye of many a passerby. It stood high above the city just as you start up the Mississippi River bridge. On it was a picture of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, head bowed. The caption underneath read in bold letters: "It's your move!"

How should we respond to Christ's sacrifice? Having focused on Christ's humiliation and exaltation in Philippians 2:5-11, Paul now calls upon his readers to respond to Christ's sacrifice for sinners. In Philippians 2:12-18 Paul tells us three things we need to do in response to Christ's sacrifice. Let's read together what Paul has to say on this subject. . . .

The first thing Paul says we need to do in response to Christ's sacrifice is to work out what God works in. Notice that Paul doesn't say work for your salvation, but rather, work out your salvation. Paul is writing to people who are already Christians. He is not telling them to earn their salvation by works. Rather, he is telling them and us to work out our salvation as an expression of love toward Jesus Christ who has already sacrificed himself for us. He wants us to work out our salvation to the finish. Salvation is not merely a gift received at one time. Salvation is an ongoing process in which we must be strenuously involved.

R. C. Sproul was crossing the campus of Temple University on his way to give a lecture on theology when he was accosted by a young man who asked him, "Sir, are you saved?" R.C. said he wanted to respond to the man by asking him, "Do you mean, ?Have I been saved?' or ?Am I being saved?' or ?Will I be saved?'"

You see, at the moment you trusted in Christ, you were saved from the penalty of sin. As you grow in a relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit, you are being saved from the power of sin. And one day, when you stand before Christ in heaven you will be saved from the very presence of sin. What Paul is saying is that we need to work out that process of salvation to its rightful conclusion. And we need to do that not just as individuals, but together as the Body of Christ, the Church.

The good news is that we have help in this endeavor. "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." If God was not working in us by his Holy Spirit, our efforts at working out our salvation would be fruitless.

I love that scene in the movie Chariots of Fire where the runner, Eric Liddell, is preaching to a crowd of people standing on a race track on a rainy day. In his message he asks, "Where does the power come from to see the race through to the end?" And in the movie we see scenes of various runners falling down, or running out of energy in all sorts of horrible conditions. Then Eric Liddell answers his own question. He says, "The power comes from within. The kingdom of God is within you."

That's where the power comes from to see the race through to the end. It comes from the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We need to respond to what Christ has done for us in his life, death and resurrection, by working out the salvation that God has worked into us.

The second thing we need to do in response to Christ's sacrifice is to do everything without complaining or arguing. This language is borrowed from Old Testament descriptions of Israel complaining and arguing in the wilderness when Moses led them from Egypt to the Promised Land.

The Israelites complained to Moses that they were going to be destroyed by the Egyptians as they approached the Red Sea, but God parted the waters. Next they complained about only having bitter water to drink, but God made it sweet for them. They complained about not having enough food to eat, but God gave them manna. Then they complained about only having manna, so God gave them quail to eat. They complained about Moses and Aaron's leadership. The complaining went on and on, and it made their whole journey in the desert miserable.

I don't know whether I have shared this one with you before. But the story is told of a man who decided to join a monastery and one of the rules of the group was that you were only allowed to speak two words every ten years. At the end of the ten years he said, "Bad food!"

Ten more years went by and the monk said, "Hard bed!"

Finally, on his 30^th anniversary in the monastery the monk said two more words: "I quit!" And the abbot in charge of the monastery said, "You might as well. You've been complaining ever since you got here!"

What kind of complaining and arguing do we see in the church? Charles Spurgeon tells the story of a heavy wagon being dragged along a country lane by a team of oxen. The axles groaned and creaked terribly. So the oxen turned around and spoke to the wheels, "Hey there, why do you make so much noise? We bear all the labor, and we-not you-ought to cry out!" Then Spurgeon goes on to apply the story to the church in this way. He says, "Those complain first in our churches who have the least to do. The gift of grumbling is largely dispensed among those who have no other talents, or who keep what they have wrapped in a napkin."

Why should you do everything without complaining or arguing? Paul says you should do this "so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life-in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

Here again, Paul is echoing an Old Testament passage, Daniel 12:2-3 . . .

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

This passage in Daniel is one of the earliest references to the idea of the resurrection.  Daniel is saying that if we lead others to the Lord in this life then we will shine like the stars forever in the day of resurrection.

Paul takes this same idea and turns it around a bit.  He is basically saying: "If you do everything without complaining and arguing you will shine like a star, now, in a dark world."  Paul hopes that unlike their spiritual ancestors, the Israelites, the Philippian Christians will prove not to be a crooked, depraved, and blemished generation, but a beacon of light for Christ in the midst of a faithless world.

A few days ago we were watching fireworks from our front lawn.  It was the end of our local county fair.  The night around us was so dark that the first blast of fireworks almost hurt our eyes, they were so bright!  It made me think how many people's lives are like fireworks.  They come to Christ and shine brightly for him for a short time--but then the light peters out, or maybe the Lord takes them home to heaven early in life.  Rather than being like fireworks I think the Lord indeed wants us to be like the stars that shine for a long period of time--light years in fact!  He wants us to shine for him over the long haul.

What do non-Christians think of the church when they see us complaining and arguing with one another? They think, "I don't want to have anything to do with that mess!"

Paul is saying that we should respond to Christ's sacrifice by not complaining and arguing with one another, so that we will be seen as blameless and pure by the watching world. How can we effectively hold out the word of life to people when it is obvious that this word of life has not changed our own lives? We can't. We need to clean up our own act before we presume to share the word of life with others.

Now don't get me wrong. None of us are ever going to be perfect until we stand before Jesus in heaven. But we need to pursue being blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation. If that is our pursuit then we will shine like stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life.

There are people around us who never open, who never read the Bible, but they are reading us. Are they able to see God in our lives? Are they able to say, "That person reminds me of Christ?" Do we let our light shine in such a way that people see, not us, but our Father in heaven?

The effect of the Christian life lived out in difficult situations is often quite dramatic and forceful in its impact on the non-Christian. An article appeared in Christianity Today many years ago about Christians in the Soviet Union. A former criminal, Kozlov, later a church leader, wrote of life in a Soviet prison:

"Among the general despair, while prisoners like myself were cursing ourselves, the camp, the authorities; while we opened up our veins or our stomachs, or hanged ourselves; the Christians (often with sentences of 20 to 25 years) did not despair. One could see Christ reflected in their faces. Their pure, upright life, deep faith and devotion to God, their gentleness and their wonderful manliness became a shining example of real life for thousands."

Now if Christians could shine like stars in the darkness of Soviet prison camps, don't you think we can shine like stars where we live by God's grace?

The third thing we need to do in response to Christ's sacrifice is to rejoice in sacrifice. Paul says, "But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me."

Paul talks about his life being like a drink offering. The drink offering in the Old Testament was an offering of wine or oil poured out on top of the sacrificial offering of a lamb or other animal. At this point in time, Paul was writing to the Philippians from jail in Rome, where he was imprisoned for his faith in Christ and awaiting trial before Caesar. Paul thought of the giving of his life as a little offering added on top of the big sacrifice of the Philippian Church. And Paul rejoiced in that sacrifice that he felt privileged to make. In fact, he uses the word rejoice four times in two verses. Paul counted it a blessing to share, in some small way, in the sufferings of Christ.

Do we look at suffering that way? Do we look at sacrifice that way? Do we rejoice in it? Warren Wiersbe says, "The world's philosophy is that joy comes from aggression: fight everybody to get what you want, and you will get it and be happy. The example of Jesus is proof enough that the world's philosophy is wrong. He never used a sword or any other weapon; yet He won the greatest battle in history-the battle against sin and death and hell. He defeated hatred by manifesting love; He overcame lies with truth. Because He surrendered He was victorious!"

Hebrews 12:2 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus endured the cross because there was joy set before him, the joy of knowing that he was accomplishing our salvation through his death on the cross.

There is a two-fold joy that comes to the person who sacrifices self in order to follow Jesus' example. There is a joy hereafter and a joy here and now. Paul talks in verse 16 about being able to boast in the day of Christ that he did not run or labor for nothing. Paul was looking forward to the day when Christ would return and set up his eternal kingdom, and Paul was looking forward to the fruit of his labor - seeing the Philippian Christians in Christ's eternal kingdom. That is the joy hereafter. Are you going to know the joy hereafter? You can if you sacrifice now so that others can come to know Jesus in a personal way.

But joy can also be a present reality in the midst of our sacrifice. Normally we would associate the word sorrow with sacrifice, but Paul associates joy with sacrifice. I think what Paul rejoiced in was the opportunity to become more like Christ through the sacrifice of his life for the good news.

When the starter raised the gun and said, "On your mark, get set . . ." it looked like every other hundred-meter dash. The contestants were lined up in the starting blocks. The crowd was on the edge of their chairs in keen anticipation.

When the starter fired the gun, the contestants sprang out of the starting blocks, and even the casual observer could tell something was different. This was the Special Olympics. It was special because the contestants were developmentally and physically disabled.

It was special for a far greater reason than that. It was special because of the way that hundred-meter dash was run. The runners moved down the track shoulder-to-shoulder. Suddenly one of the young women sprawled headlong on the track and turned over in some amount of pain and embarrassment.

The rest of the contestants moved on for ten or fifteen meters. Without any communication among themselves, they all stopped, turned around, and jogged back to their fallen friend. They picked her up off the track, comforted her, and then arm in arm they ran together to the finish line. Those runners would rather finish together than win the race individually.

Did that require sacrifice for those runners to stop, go back, and pick up their fallen friend? You bet! Was there joy in the race and at the end? Yes, I imagine that their joy was greater because of their sacrifice.

Paul sacrificed his life by going around, picking up people who were fallen down in sin, and introducing them to the Savior, Jesus Christ. The Christians in Philippi did the same. And by so doing, they discovered joy in the midst of sacrifice.

Are you sacrificing your time, your talent, your treasure, by picking people up off the ground and introducing them to the one and only person who can help them run and finish the race to heaven? If so, you will be finding joy in the journey. If so, you will be working out the salvation that God has worked into you. And if your eyes are focused on helping others find the Savior, you won't have time to argue or complain.

The challenge in all of this is that the Christian life is not a thing of the moment. The Christian life is something that must be lived out over the long haul. Fred Craddock captured the essence of this sacrifice in an address to ministers:

"To give my life for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others . . . to pay the ultimate price of martyrdom-I'll do it. I'm ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of glory.

"We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table-'Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all.'

"But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there. Listen to the neighbor kid's troubles instead of saying, ?Get lost.' Go to a committee meeting. Give a cup of water to a shaky old man in a nursing home.

"Usually giving our life to Christ isn't glorious. It's done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time. It would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it's harder to live the Christian life little by little over the long haul."

And because the self-sacrifice required to live the Christian life over the long haul is hard to muster, even impossible to muster by human standards, that's why we need God's grace and power.

There was only one problem with that song - it was wrong. God's Word tells us that it isn't hard to be humble; it's impossible to be humble apart from Christ. It is against our sin nature to be humble. In Romans 1:29-30 we learn that sinful human beings have become "filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful."

Howard Butt has written, "The Christian life is not difficult . . . it is impossible." Only Christ can give us the power to be truly humble. Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29)

What is humility? Dag Hammerskojld has written, "To be humble is to not make comparisons." Humility then is the belief that we are incomparable. When we stop comparing ourselves with others then we have begun to discover true humility. The person who is always putting themselves down is just as involved with self as the person who is always boasting. When we discover our true identity in Christ that frees us to forget about self and start thinking of Christ and others. If we are constantly comparing ourselves to others, either trying to put self on a higher plane, a lower plane, or an equal plane, then we still haven't gotten free of self.

In Paul's letter to the church at Philippi we saw two weeks ago how humility and helpfulness promote unity. We read in Philippians 2:3-4, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Then Paul proceeded in chapter 2 to present Christ as an example of humility. Following his hymn to Christ he also subtly presented his own life as an example. Now he presents Timothy and Epaphroditus as examples of humility. Let's read together Philippians 2:19-30 ...

Timothy's life shows us four things we can do to grow in humility. First of all, we need to learn from a mentor.

Paul begins by writing, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you." Paul has a pragmatic purpose in mentioning Timothy- he wants to alert the Philippians that he will be sending Timothy soon to check up on them and to take them news of how he, Paul, is faring in prison. But Paul also has a teaching purpose in mentioning Timothy, it gives him the opportunity to present Timothy's life as a profile in humility, further fleshing out his teaching about humility from chapter 2.

So Paul goes on to say, "I have no one else like him," or more literally, "For I have no one like-minded." Timothy was of a like mind as Paul. Whatever Timothy would say to the Philippians would be exactly what Paul would say. This was the case because Timothy had learned from Paul as his mentor. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that Timothy also learned humility from Paul.

Think back to how Timothy first came in contact with the Apostle Paul. We read in Acts 14:8 and following that Paul and Barnabus came to Lystra, a city in what is now the nation of Turkey. In Lystra Paul healed a man crippled from birth. As a result, a crowd gathered and they started to worship Paul and Barnabus as if they were gods. Paul tried to explain to the people that they weren't gods and he tried to tell them about the true God. Then some Jews, who had persecuted Paul in Iconium and Antioch, came along, won the crowd over, had Paul stoned, dragged him out of town and left him for dead. The Lord, however, raised up Paul. And as if that weren't enough - Paul went back into the city to preach again! This was probably Timothy's first introduction to the Apostle Paul. Timothy would have been a very young man at the time, possibly still a teenager. And his first introduction to the Apostle Paul showed forth Paul's humility in suffering.

Then we read in Acts 16 that Paul came back to Lystra on his second missionary journey. He found Timothy, who by this time was a disciple. He had either come to Christ through hearing Paul or through the witness of his mother or grandmother. Timothy was well spoken of by the other Christians. And so Paul decided to take him along on his second missionary journey.

Timothy was the son of a Greek, though his mother was Jewish. Consequently, he had never been circumcised. So as not to stir up the Jews in the area, Paul had Timothy circumcised before he took him along on his journey. Talk about humility - submitting to circumcision as an adult!

From that time forward Timothy continued to learn humility through having Paul as his mentor. Timothy was thrust into challenging ministry situations such as the time when Paul left Timothy behind in Berea to teach the new Christians there. Later on, when Timothy joined Paul in Corinth, Paul put him in charge of teaching the Greeks.

When I was in high school I joined the teen choir in our church. The choir was made up of high school and college age students. One of our assignments in the teen choir was to pick someone else in the choir to be a prayer partner. I approached a college age guy by the name of Bill Snyder and asked him to be my prayer partner. Bill became a mentor to me in many ways.

When I was in high school I was a fairly shy person. Youth group was the one place where I felt more comfortable and accepted. But in my insecurity I tended to act out a lot in youth group. My humor was a bit off-color at times. Bill Snyder was the one person who had the courage and the love to talk with me about my behavior. He let me know that I didn't need to act out in order to be accepted. He told me I could be myself. After that conversation I did relax more. I matured. All because I had a good mentor.

If you want to learn humility - learn from a mentor. Do you have a mentor - a more mature Christian from whom you are learning humility? If not, why not seek one out from among the people in this church?

Secondly, we learn from Timothy that he grew in humility by developing a concern for others. Literally, Paul tells us that Timothy was burdened for others. Paul writes, "I have no one else like-minded, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare." How did Timothy develop this concern for others? The word for genuine which Paul uses literally means "a legitimate son." Timothy was a legitimate son of Paul in that he ministered to the people in Philippi and other places, right along side of his father in the faith - Paul. Secondly, Timothy probably followed Paul's example by praying continually for those whom the Lord had given him to serve.

Developing true concern for others is antithetical to what our society teaches us today. The television show Survivor is an example of this. That show has been watched millions of people. I am one of the few people who hasn't ever watched Survivor. The very first Survivor was about the competition between 16 real-life hand-picked castaways purposely marooned for 39 days on a tropical island in the South China Sea. While the diverse group of castaways banded together in alliances to "survive," they also voted each other off the island until only one remained. The final survivor won one million dollars and a new car. The show revealed some things we don't often like to face about our human nature. When push comes to shove we are all consumed with looking out for ourselves first.

How can we break out of the web of selfishness in which we all are caught? What can we do to grow in our concern for others? Praying for others is a good place to start. In the second message of this series I suggested praying for all the people in the church each week using Philippians 1:9-11 as a model. Secondly, look for needs in the congregation and in individual people's lives and see what you can do to fill those needs. Find a need and fill it. You don't have to wait for someone in leadership to ask you to perform a ministry in the church. Look for needs. And if someone is not filling that need, you start a new ministry!

Fourthly, Timothy developed humility by learning to work with others. "But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel." Timothy learned to work under Paul's authority, but he also learned to serve with Paul in the work of the Gospel.

How do things go when you are called upon to work with others, especially in the church? Do you have to be in charge? Does it have to be your project? Do you know how to work with someone who is younger than you, or someone wh