Published: February 2, 2025 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Worship 2 - Part 4 | Scripture: Philippians 1:27-2:5
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if you have your Bibles turn to Philippians chapter 2 we're going to continue our discussion of
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coia and it to me it actually really comes to uh uh the most poignant and um explicit application in the opening
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verses of chapter 2 we've talked about what the word coinonia means and we've talked about a lot of a lot about how it's been used particularly by Paul um I I want to I
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want to put down two comments um you know I've already mentioned that coin Andia can mean having a share in and also giving a share in and so when we
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look at
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when we look at this reciprocal meaning the word does carry both uh parts of it
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biblically there there is a a way we could look at each of these that I think helps to summarize how Paul consistently uses the term having a sharein represents a state or
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condition in this sense the word Fellowship partnership Fellowship partnership communion sharing however it may be used in or translated in the English what it represents is that we have a share in
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Christ that is a state that that is a condition that is not something that can be achieved by any measure of uh moral exercise or
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exercise or discipline um it is something that we receive by God's grace by Grace you have been saved through true faith and so the having a share in is the foundation for
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the giving a share in and so what we're now talking about when we look at Acts chapter 2 and and how they devoted themselves to Fellowship we're looking
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at the second part we we're we're assuming the first part these have been baptized into the name of Jesus Christ they have been brought into his body they have a share in Christ and on the
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basis of that they they now give a share of themselves and so the second part giving a share in is an
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attitude and that attitude I think is is most succinctly represented in Philippians the the thought thought that Paul brings to us at the beginning of
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2 really begins up in chapter 1 uh and and this is one of those places that I think that the chapter division is somewhat unfortunate that we we we tend to start chapter two is a you know
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obviously in our weekly public reading of scripture chapter two would probably be a separate reading and in doing so we tend to throw the emphasis on the
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christological hymn it's called where we read about how Christ being equal with God did not view that equality as a thing to be grasped but emptied himself
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and took the form of a servant and on and on until of course God highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God that
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is a beautiful hymn um and most Scholars consider it possibly an ear early Hymn of the church that Paul incorporates into his letter however that may be um I
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frankly think if it is a hymn Paul wrote it but uh that I'm not a scholar um so that's where we tend to focus in Philippians chapter 2 and we actually
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fail to realize that Paul is writing that hymn as an example of the exhortation he has just given to us so it's not some theological
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christological proof of Jesus's deity it is but it is itself an example of something else and we lose sight of that because we you know we kind of caught up
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in the in the um the beauty of that hymn itself but Paul starts out um I don't see where see where I where should I
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start I'm going to start up in verse 27 of chapter 1 Paul writes only conduct yourself in a
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manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or remain absent I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one
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mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel in no way alarmed by your opponents which is a sign of Destruction for them but of salvation for you and
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that too from God for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake experiencing the same conflict
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which you saw in me and now here to be in me which by the way elsewhere in Philippians um three Paul calls that Suffering The Fellowship of Christ's
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suffering the suffering the participation in Christ's suffering so he uses the word coinonia there as well but here he hasn't used that word yet
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he's about to um but he's he set the stage for what he's going to write in Chapter 2 the exhortation and he once again uses the
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number one he does this in Ephesians chapter 4 for example where he talks about one Spirit one baptism one body um and and this is a consistent theme of
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Paul's when he refers to coia with reference to the church the community of Believers so
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it's almost that we can say that coinonia to Paul has a numerical value of one and that comes out many many times now before we get into this I I wanted
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to have a little bit of an aside that I think just to in to avoid
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equation okay that's not however within religion Unity is often um counter fitted by uniformity if as long as we all look the
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same talk the same do do the same things we are one no we're not all we've done is we've suppressed uniformity beneath the surface or I should say we we've
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suppressed diversity beneath the surface and we've we've manufactured an outward uniformity and this is this is a classic example of man-made religion um and we
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we see it very often in uh in Christianity um and within denominations where we we all say the same thing we have our own shth and we all pronounce
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it the same way and any deviation from that is suspect because we've confused Unity with Unity with uniformity Paul would not do that in
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fact um in 1 Corinthians 121 13 and 14 as with elsewhere but that's the most concentrated when he talks about the distribution of the of the charismata
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the grace gifts he makes makes it very clear that we're not all the same that we're we're not all uh uniform in our giftedness he makes it clear even in
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Philippians that we're not even all the same in the attainment of Revelation through God's word later on he says that you know if anyone does hasn't quite attained to this let him understand that
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there is no other standard in the churches and they will mature they will grow into it um so the unity that we're talking about is more like we might say the unity of the human race and and the
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human race is often mistaken Unity for equality and uniformity uh that's one of the errors of of Communism there there's
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no uniformity or equality within the human race but the opposite side is to have Prejudice and and even genocide when diversity is viewed as
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something other than Unity that if you were not exactly the same in skin color or ethnicity then you are therefore not exactly the same in humanity and then we can do with you what we will what we
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have the power to do well again we understand that that's not the same I say this because I I want to have a a short little um Rabbit Trail U because I
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said something last week that disturbs some people for which I am glad okay there there is a sense in which uh people tend to go to a church to be confirmed in their own
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views and we watch our news that way too frankly I don't know very many people for example of of Republican um bent who spend a lot of
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time listening to CNN they watch Fox and of course Democrats tending to be more liberal don't spend a lot of time watching Fox News they tend to watch CNN okay the
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point being is that as Paul warned um we tend to gather to ourselves those who will Who will scratch our itching ears uh you've heard the southern phrase preaching to the choir you know we we
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like that we like to hear that which we are already convinced of and to shout amen when we hear it and so um on the one hand we we we reject the idea of
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papal edicts we don't want to be told what to do and on the other hand the other end of the spectrum is is characterized by the phrase that every
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man does that which is right in his own eyes the Pastoral philosophy that we have here is somewhere in between and that is that uh Paul writes
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in Romans 14 that everyone should be convinced in their own mind but then he also says that anything that is done apart from faith is sin and so yes you you have your own mind
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your own Spirit your own indwelling holy spirit to guide you into the paths of righteousness for his name's sake that's exactly true but there's also the
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temptation to Simply do what pleases you or to do what makes you feel good or what others around you are doing you're not actually doing it out of a
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conviction of faith and therefore even though it seems right and innocuous Paul defines it as Sin so it's the responsibility I think
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of of the Shepherds to Simply ask questions and to challenge why do we do what we do and last week I I did ask the
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question about wearing crosses as jewelry I don't think I might have to go back and look at the video I don't think I said Thou shalt not because that don't think that's my
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place Paul doesn't give me or Mark that place to say what you can and cannot do in matters as he as the the Greek word
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is Adora matters Adora matters indifferent Paul says some people eat meat and others will not some people drink wine others will not some people observe certain days to other all days
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are the same see what he's doing there he's saying we're we're not uniform okay we're not all the same we don't all
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have the same convictions about everything we do and this of course does not apply to those things that are sins okay so we can't say some people commit murder and others don't that's
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not one of the options but there are a number of things in our life that are matters of matters of conscience and so our goal is simply to have you challenge your
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conscience not to arrive at a preset conclusion but rather to challenge your conscience as to why you do what you do because you are a representative of the
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godhead here on Earth oh absolutely yeah for the Jews right we'll be talking about that
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in this Plum line class when we talk about the dietary laws and the Purity laws these were not 0 ofor to the Jews these were not things indifferent to them okay and so what he's writing there
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is quite revolutionary U we we should understand that um but he's he's he's not just saying whatever anything goes you know be happy that type of a of of a
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religion not at all it's being displaced by something else and that is the unity of the body of Christ that's really the emphasis of Romans 14 is that we we are
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all one body and we stand before one Lord who is able to make each one of us stand and therefore we should not be judging the servant of another but on the other hand we are also one another's
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as it were files as iron sharpens iron show one so one man sharpens another that we should not simply allow ourselves as Believers
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to just do what we what feels good uh or even to do what we were brought up doing tradition is tradition is Insidious okay it not only directs how
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you do it it changes your mental Paradigm to think that it is the only way it should be done do you see what I said there it it it it works in you to
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direct you how you should but it works over you as well to convince you that there's no other possible way to do it than this way but I think the Holy Spirit through the word of God if we
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will allow him will challenge all our traditions and I'm not suggesting for a moment that that they will all be thrown into the dust Heap that's not the case
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because that which is done through faith is fine and all things are blessed through prayer and Thanksgiving so you know when I say something about
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something that is traditional within Christianity please don't hear that as a pronouncement that you should not be doing this unless of course I say you should
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not be doing this now you don't have to agree because again this is what we're driving after not this okay th this is not this is this is false religion right
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here this is a facade this is often a whitewash Sepulchre and it and it it passes for piety but as Jesus said of the Pharisees
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inside are just dead men's bones okay so that's a little aside but but when we turn back to Philippians then we see that the congregation of Christ in any
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particular locality in this case
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they are striving in one spirit with one mind for the faith of the Gospel okay so
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I think that phrase even though it doesn't use the word coia that's about the best definition in the Bible that I could conceive of is a people that in one Spirit have
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one mind but what is that mind that mind is toward the faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so it's it's again it's not
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uniformity it's uniformity it's not it's not even confessionalism you know that we all have our Doctrine correct um it's it's
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not particular um programs or social action that we're all unified behind like missions or helping the poor or environmentalism or whatever the latest
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um Crusade may be that that's not what this is he's saying that we're striving with one spirit and one mind for the faith of the Gospel
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that is also a kind of a subjective term what what does it mean the faith of the gospel and I'm not going to go into that that's that's probably another discussion and and perhaps at some point
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we can we can do a study just basically what is the gospel that's not something that has been universally agreed upon and is not even today what is the gospel
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but here we're talking about coia we're talking about what is fellowship The Fellowship of Believers so going on in Chapter 2 he says if therefore there is any
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encouragement in Christ if there is any consolation of love if there is any Fellowship of the spirit if any affection and
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affection and compassion so he's asking a series of rhetorical questions um there is no doubt in my mind that if if the answer to these
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questions in any congregation is no then Paul would stop and say we got a problem here it's it's analogous to to
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Paul in 2 Corinthians 8 where he says God loves a cheerful Giver he does not mean that if you can't give cheerfully don't give at all what he means is give
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cheerfully okay and and he would say that if you're not a cheerful Giver then the there's a problem yes and if there is no consolation if there is no
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Fellowship of the spirit if there is no love and love and compassion there probably is no church even if there may be a gathering
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of people in a building that says Church on it you there there because it kind of all centers I mean certainly encouragement in
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Christ so let's put those up there let's
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is any encouragement in Christ if there is any consolation of
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word now I capitalize Spirit there's there's no there's no textual uh evidence to do that except that he has just mentioned Christ and then also um he's not talking
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about some mysticism here where we all share the same human Spirit or Spirit of Love or Spirit of of GAA or whatever is going on that's not what he talking
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about so I think it's correct your Bibles probably also capitalize it if any affection and compassion now I'm going to put
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these this is not grammatically correct but they are two different
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things and by putting them separate it does conveniently put the Fellowship of the spirit in the middle but I point that out you know um grammatically these would be
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together these are rhetorical questions these are questions that assume yes answers all the way down the list and he's simply phrasing what he could
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phrase in a positive way rather than an interrogative he could have said he said there is encouragement in Christ okay there is consolation in love the love of
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God and the love of the Brethren is consoling there is also affection and compassion and these are all because and
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and this is why I do think it's Central be and also because of what he says in Corinthians both letters this is this is all because of the Fellowship of the spirit and what he's actually saying
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here in a sense so so this of course is
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coia okay that there's the word and this is one of the examples that I wanted to bring out from Paul's letters but really I think at at this point I want to move on to what is this look like because I think this is where we see what it looks
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like what does it look like what it looks like looks like encouragement in encouragement in Christ okay and and so many times we are exhorted and we see in Acts where they
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encourage one another encouragement is a part it's it's a visible part of coia okay now it it's not empty uh
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platitudes that's that's not encouragement we have to understand all of this is under the the rubric of Truth so it's encouragement in
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Christ which means it it is it has to be guided by the truth okay we don't just simply encourage one another to do what we want to do and we certainly don't
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encourage one another into doing things that that don't seem to be wise okay that that's not encouraging in the biblical sense but it's also
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consolation we don't really use this word much anymore except in second place you know a consolation prize oh that's what Yuri what Yuri got thank you for showing up um that's
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how we kind of view consolation is no you didn't win but thanks for showing up that that's not what it means consolation implies mourning it implies
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loss and if you are in Christ you have and will suffer loss you will suffer loss of of friends
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and family you will suffer loss of respect and um and even civility um you you will suffer loss of
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reputation especially in our day and age and of course in Paul's day you could very easily suffer loss of property and life which may again come to to our
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culture um frankly I think the the method of persecution today is ridicule and marginalization but we don't know what is in the future but this is this
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is loss one of the aspects of coia that sets it apart from other human Fellowship ship or human society is this
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Mutual consolation okay but that consolation um and and I think there's somewhat of a of a parallel here we have these
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and they're connected it why do we encourage one encourage one another well because we love one another there's a there's an affection that is not easily not easily definable in most human
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societies when you see people congregating together you can see some outward commonality that explains their Mutual
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affection uh often it's ethnic um it it's often familial sometimes it's nothing more than recreational okay we we all kind of like
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to do the same thing and that becomes our group right um that's that's human coia but it's it's it's an affection
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that is purely human purely Inward and of course purely selfish self centered and therefore it's an encouragement that is not
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is not abiding okay not not not at all I'm going to give you a a kind of a graphic example and and that is the fellowship
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of Alcoholics now I don't mean Alcoholics Anonymous I mean alcoholics like my father okay now very very few alcoholics
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drink alone they they they do tend to congregate with other alcoholics and the encouragement they give one another is not to recover
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but rather to dive in deeper and I and my siblings and maybe some of you have as well witnessed that right and and if you were to talk to an alcoholic's buddies about your father's
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or your husband's problem they will they will minimize it they will do no he's he's not that bad I've seen worse you know um and certainly there there is an
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inour encouragement there that they give one another because there's an affection but that affection is purely selfish and self-centered and that encouragement is completely empty or in fact even very
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evil and devious so there's a there is a counterfeit and that's that's um Paul says about the devil that we are aware of his schemes kind we kind of know his
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methods and one of his methods maybe his most consistent method is counterfeit to offer something that has a a basic framework that looks
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like life with God and life in the spirit but in fact it's not okay so the Satan doesn't necessarily Drive every individual human to oppose every other
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individual human no we would we would soon recognize the dangerous Anarchy of that and we would rebel against Satan but if he allows us to congregate and
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have Fellowship on the basis of things that are not Eternal and not true then that is successful because he can lull humans
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into a sense of self uh complacency and in some cases even Pride okay and and then they're fine
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they're he's got them almost you know inoculated and safe against the gospel because they think they have everything that Christianity life in Christ offers
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what they actually have is a wallet full of counterfeit bills okay so um and why do we console one another because we have the compassion toward one another
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that God has shown us in Christ so again this this all ties together but it it all ties together around this um which
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of course this flows directly from that okay you you somebody oh go
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ahead yeah yes I do think part of the this uh the encouragement that we have Paul says um I think it's in 2 Corinthians the early part of 2 Corinthians that we Comfort one another with the Comfort whereby we've been comforted by God and I think that's what
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you're saying is that this this does take and we're going to get into kind of the nuts and bolts of it Lord willing next week th this does take a meditation not only upon God's word but also upon
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the situation in which we live which is not only the remaining sin that indwells us us but also the corruption of the world around us it's not just an
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individual woe is me in fact it's not a woe is me at all but it's it is certainly a recognition of that which I have been saved from which I have been saved and delivered and there is a
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Mourning uh for continued sin but there's also a mourning for example just that accident on Wednesday I think it was Wednesday uh on the at
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the pomac the pomac I mean that's that's really tragic um and and that sort of thing makes you realize that um when those
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things happen or maybe it's the death of of a loved one or a good friend and even if that person is is old and his or her death not
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death not unexpected it's still a transition that brings to mind that death is The Last Enemy death is not a natural part of life that's a stupid
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thought that's like that's like the ending is a natural part of a novel duh I mean death is not the natural part of life death is an Invader death is an
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enemy and we should always see it that way and and I think that's what what John Dunn meant when he says that's not For Whom the Bell Tolls it tolls for
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thee when he said every man's death diminishes me okay what what he's saying there is death itself is each of our enemy and we and and and mourning over
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that or or meditating on that allows us to have the compassion that enables us to give the consolation but also when we are
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struggling from where do we seek consolation again the world seeks it from pills and bottles or uh yoga and pilates or you know they they they seek it from um just
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weird stuff weird stuff sometimes and when you look at it you think how can that possibly give you consolation there's no there's no substance to it it's all temporary the
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the the the uh the the alcoholic induced Euphoria will wear off the pills will eventually their effect will wear off you'll eventually come to the end of
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this particular um hobby that you're in that gives you such a lift and you realize it doesn't give you a lift anymore what is really abiding is the
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knowledge of God through Jesus Christ the knowledge that though we are wasting away outwardly inwardly we're being renewed day by day the knowledge that I know that in my flesh I will stand upon
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this Earth and see my redeemer okay and with that kind of of consolation ourselves we apply it to others to our Brethren what this means is the Assembly
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of Believers in some ways looks like other human assemblies but in fact it is dramatically and in fact essentially
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different than any other Human Society in and and if you look at Paul's writings you realize that one of the most radical things that he did was he
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broke he was breaking through all of the social boundaries that existed in his day and still exist in our own the biggest one of course was
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Jew and Gentile he broke that one down he said the two have now been made one man the wall of partition has been broken down okay then then he takes on
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the the Greek separations between barbarians and skians and you know even within the Gentile world he says all of those divisions they're broken down the
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rich and the poor James pitches in here he helps out there's no distinction between the rich and the poor and then of course the one that we continue to struggle with male and
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female okay that has been not per it been for all time immemorial it has been the most distinctive characteristic within the human race not just
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physically but but behaviorally male and female and Paul says in Christ there is neither male nor female okay now what we do with that and all of that of course
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does that mean that there are no Masters and no slaves Paul didn't go there did he you know he says Masters treat your slaves with respect and compassion slaves obey your masters as in the Lord
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husbands wives okay okay so we're not we're not just these level to say you know we all call one another brother and sister and there's no distinction whatsoever no that's not the answer that
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again is a counterfeit that's uniformity okay but within Unity there is no distinction between Jew Gentile skythian Barbarian male female Rich
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poor so th this is kind of the point I think that that uh that Mark is tapping into in in Peter and that is the Christian Assembly on Earth is an incredibly revolutionary and radical
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Community it is it is a community of Resident aliens that is recognizably different than all other human societies and yet it is itself another
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human society we don't stop being human beings we don't stop for example being slaves if formerly we were slaves we
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don't stop being Engineers if formerly we were engineers we don't stop being married if formerly we were married okay we don't change that circumstance and yet the entire circumstance has changed
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us and so the Christian Community is one in which there there really cannot be Prejudice there cannot be any manner of bigotry uh of any type
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but on the other hand the Christian Society is not one in which there is enforced equality or uniformity that is another mistake that
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the the monasteries made for example where you would take vows of poverty and all of your possessions would be given to the monastery as a whole okay that was that was their idea of of unity well
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it wasn't Unity it was uniformity okay and it a a greedy man does not have to be a wealthy man poor men can be just as greedy and actually wealthy man can be as just as
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content the the outward condition of one's bank account is not a mirror on one's Soul okay you you look at men like
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Boaz and Barnabas we have one in the old test there aren't many I grant one in the Old Testament one in in the new all right and we do know that it's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye
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of an needle okay but you do have those examples of men who were obviously wealthy and yet also Godly okay so um again Unity is not
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uniformity so just to to close today and and we're going to get into this hopefully in in uh something for you to think about through the week but H how does this actually work out in the life
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of a congregation well for starters I cannot I've never been able to see how this can work out in the life of a
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denomination or in the life of the universal church right this is something that has to be worked out between the physical
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contact and interaction of human beings who are in Christ which is why instead of giving us a Systematic Theology this is why I think God gave us letters to
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churches okay that that's that's who we are we can put ourselves into the place of Corinth or Philippi or Ephesus and we can understand that th this is where it
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all works out is in the congregation not in some um abstract concept of the church but rather right
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here in in our body and in so many other bodies like ours so he says He's listed these rhetorical uh questions with the you know undeniable answer that there is
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these things he says make my joy complete by being of the same mind maintaining the Same Love United in spirit intent on one
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purpose so he's saying in light of this in light of the reality of this he says these things
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purpose now that one purpose is what I'd like to spend some time looking at next week but he goes on he says do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of Mind Let each of you
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regard one another as more important than himself now kind of to give away the punchline uh my reading of
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Paul with respect to the church if he were to put if I were to ask him again this is all hypothetical and and conjectural but if I were asked
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him to say in one word what is every believer's function within the body of Christ that word would be edification
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the building up of the body of Christ how do each of us do that well that gets us into the charismata and the gifts and the functions of the Holy the function of the holy spirit in distributing to each as he Wills what
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for what purpose for the building up of the body it's always where Paul ends for the building up of the body that we all might grow into a mature man Ephesians 4 4 so Ephesians 4 1 Corinthians 12 all
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these different passages where he talks about how we individually are gifted by the holy spirit for one purpose and that is the building up of the body now in order to attain that purpose
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we must overcome selfish ambition and
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conceit but God has given us the Supreme example of this Paul goes on and I'm going to close with this have this attitude that was found in Christ Jesus let's
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Jesus let's pray father we do ask that you would show us through your word and by your spirit in our hearts and in our minds the importance of the unity of the
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body as a witness to you upon this Earth that our unity and our our love and compassion are are the those things by which all men will know that we are
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Christ's disciples that our Unity would actually Proclaim Your Proclaim Your Grace which is the essence of the Gospel that as people see the compassion
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and love and concern of Believers for one another within a congregation they might actually even be provoked to provoked to jealousy and desire to know the reason
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for the hope that we we have have within ourselves this this is true Mission this is our mission so help us to have this attitude
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toward one another that was found in Jesus Christ for we ask in his name and for his glory amen