The Secret to a Church That Stays Together

0:02 The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, only by pride cometh contention. Only by pride. You've never had contention unless somewhere, somehow, pride is a part of it. Only by pride cometh contention. Now, what's the difference between strife and vainglory? He warns against both of these right here. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Strife is putting someone else down. Vainglory is lifting yourself up. And either way, either way, whether by strife you're putting someone else down or by vainglory you're lifting yourself up, you're contrary to the mind of Christ. The Adrian Rogers Pastors Podcast is a wellspring of biblical encouragement specifically for those called to preach the word, love the church, and lead with integrity. Listen now and be strengthened for the road ahead.

0:57 Take God's Word and find Philippians chapter 2, would you please? It's a passage that we have looked at not so very long ago. We're going to look at it again in a different light tonight. I want to speak to you about unity in the church. Somebody asked John Wooten, the great basketball coach at UCLA. If you've ever been out to UCLA, as I have, and go to the gymnasium there where they play basketball, you'll see banner after banner after banner hung up there that speaks of championships that UCLA won playing basketball under John Wooten. As a matter of fact, having won more national champions and championships than any other coach at that time was asked this question, what does it take to make a great basketball team? And his answer was very direct and very simple. He said, three things are essential.

1:57 And I want you to listen to these. He said, number one, get your players in condition. Number two, teach them to play together. And number three, teach them the fundamentals of the game. Isn't that simple? That's it. That's what he said. Now, you say, well, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He does know what he's talking about. Three things in order to have a great basketball team. Get them in condition. Number two, teach them to play together.

2:32 Number three, teach them the fundamentals of the game. That's exactly the same three things that a church needs, only we just put them in different nomenclature. Number, sanctification. Get in condition. That's what it is. Sanctification. We were talking about that Sunday night. Setting yourselves apart for the purpose of God. Being spiritually all that we ought to be. Number two, fellowship. Teach them to play together. Number three, discipleship. Teach them the fundamentals of the game. That's it. My dear friend, sanctification, fellowship, discipleship will help us to be national champs spiritually. And I hope that God will teach us a lesson tonight as we look into His Word.

3:34 Now, Paul in Philippians, I said we're going to read chapter 2 and we will come to that. But look if you will in chapter 4 here in verse 2. I beseech Euodias and I beseech Synthochi that they be of the same mind in the Lord. I believe that Paul had detected a slight flaw in the fellowship of the church at Philippi. There were two women, Euodias and Synthochi. These two women were somehow at one another's throat or things weren't just quite right. And the apostle Paul says, oh, listen, please, I beseech you, ladies, I beg you to be of the same mind. Now, he has this evidently in mind when he has written the second chapter.

4:31 Look, if you will, in the second chapter, and it's a chapter really about unity and unity in the church. Notice how it begins in verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded. Same thing he said to these two gals over there in chapter 4. Having the same love, being of one accord and one mind. Now, that was Paul's plea for the church at Philippi. It's the plea of every pastor for his church. And really, Paul gives four reasons for unity. Here they are. And look, it begins with the word sense. Well, actually, it begins with if in the King James. If there be, therefore.

5:25 The word if does not mean that maybe it's true and maybe it is not. It means if because these things are true or because these things are true. Or you may read it this way. It literally means sense. Since there be, therefore, consolation in Christ, and so forth. And it gives four reasons why we as a church, as brothers and sisters in Christ, ought to jealously preserve and guard the unity of the church. Number one, he mentions consolation in Christ. Now, the word consolation is a word that we don't use a whole lot today, but it literally means encouragement. Encouragement in Christ. It is Jesus, he's saying, not Paul who is encouraging the church to unity. And lack of unity is disloyalty to Jesus Christ. The highest motivation for unity is not for Bellevue's sake, not for reputation's sake, not for the denomination's sake, but for Jesus' sake.

6:24 So reason number one, our common Lord Jesus Christ encourages us to unity. Our common Lord. Number two, our common love. He says any comfort of love. How wonderful it is when brothers and sisters love one another. How comforting it is to be in a spirit, a church of love. and where there's love for one another, there cannot be disunity. John 15, verse 12, Jesus said, this is my commandment that you love one another as I've loved you. Well, you say, the person I'm thinking about is not very lovely. Well, Jesus loved you while you were yet a sinner. We're just to love one another as God loved us. I think it was Sam Jones who said, he was an old-time evangelist, he said, I'm not going to fall out with anybody.

7:22 until they treat me worse than I treated Jesus. And so it's our common Lord says we're to be together. Our common love says we're to be together. Our common life says we're to be together. Look at it, any fellowship of the Spirit. The word fellowship here is the word koinonia. And it doesn't mean just Kool-Aid and cookies when you're talking about fellowship. It literally means that you're sharing the same life. And we're in this thing together. We have a common life. There's a koinonia of the Spirit. So if I hurt you, I'm hurting the body that I live in, and I hurt myself. When one member suffers, every member suffers with it. And so our common Lord, our common love, our common life. Here's another reason. Our common load. Every one of us has sorrows and heartaches.

8:18 He says, any bowels and mercies. What does that mean? Why would he say bowels? Well, to us, we don't speak as they spoke many times. That's an old biblical expression, but it's a very apt expression. Have you ever just hurt in the pit of your stomach for somebody that you love? That's right down here. I've learned this about church. There's a heartache on every pew. Every row somewhere, there's a heartache. There's a hurt. And how we need one another. So the Apostle Paul was saying, because of our Lord, because of our love, because of our life, because of the load that people are bearing, how we need to be together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

9:13 Now, secondly, he tells us how to do it. Not only does he give us the reasons, but he gives us other requirements. Requirement number one is harmony. Look, if you will. Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord. You know, for us to have unity, we don't all have to be carbon copies. I don't have to agree with you on every little detail. You don't have to agree with me. We all don't have to think alike. The church is as big as ours. We've got all kinds of ideas, all kinds of ideas sitting out there, various thoughts, various ideas. But yet we need to have a like-mindedness. Harmony, that's what we're looking for. We all don't have to sing in unison. But we all must be in harmony.

10:08 Well, harmony is just a study of musical chords. That's all it is. You know, a chord consists of two or more notes that are vibrating together, two or more tones sounded at the same time. Now, there are even and regular vibrations that make these tones. Now, if the vibrations are irregular, it's not harmony. It's called cacophony.

10:34 It's discordant. It's not nice to listen to. And in order for there to be harmony, there has to be a basic pitch that is established. For example, an A is 440 of these vibrations per minute. That makes an A. And this is established. Now, if you're going to tune that piano to that piano, and they ought to be tuned one to the other, Piano tuners tell us it is virtually impossible for a piano tuner to tune that piano to that piano. Virtually impossible. But he can get a tuning fork and tune that piano to the tuning fork and tune that one to the same tuning fork and guess what? They're in tune with one another and they can be tuned to one another and be a thousand miles apart.

11:33 He can go here and tune this one and get on an airplane and go a thousand miles and tune another piano, and they're in perfect harmony because they're both tuned to the same tuning fork. And that's the way it is. Listen, folks, when my heart vibrates with Jesus and your heart vibrates with Jesus, we're going to be in harmony together. Doesn't matter. We're going to be different about some things, and I'm not going to agree with you on everything, and you're not going to agree with me. We need to learn. Listen, there's a difference between union, uniformity, and unity. Union is not necessarily unity. You can have union and not have unity. I think one preacher a long time ago illustrated this way. He said, you can take two tomcats, tie the tails together, and hang them over a clothesline. You have union, but you won't have unity.

12:26 I mean, they are connected together, but that's not unity. Or you can have uniformity. You can make everybody do the same thing. Do you know how uniformity comes? It comes by pressure from without. You can cause everybody to get in line, to toe the mark, and that is uniformity. But it's not unity.

12:54 Uniformity comes from without. Unity comes from within. Unity can never be brought about by rules. It can never be brought about by threats. It cannot be brought about by pressure. It is being of the same mind. That's the reason he's going to say in a moment, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So, what does it take for us to be together? Number one, harmony. Not all singing the same parts, but all in the same key singing the same song. Harmony. Number two, it takes humility. Look, if you will, now in verse 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves.

13:55 Now, he talks about two things in this verse. He talks about strife, first of all. You know what strife is? Strife is a party spirit where we strive with others. You know, in national politics, we have the Democratic Party, and we have the Republican Party, and the Independents or whatever. There's no room for a party spirit in a church. There's no room for a little clique or a little group, my group. You see, because if you have a group, the very nature of that group is divisive. It's not that you can have a fellowship, but not a party spirit.

14:35 You can never have anything that says, this is mine, is over against yours. For example, if you think that your department has a Sunday school class that is yours, or your class has a room that is yours, That's a party spirit. What if our Sunday school leader comes to you next Sunday and says, we need this room for another class. We're going to ask your class to meet in the hall. because the other class can use your room better than you can use it. How many of you would just be spiritual enough just to say, praise the Lord? Don't lift your hand. I don't want to know. Now listen.

15:21 Listen, my dear friend. That's not your classroom. That's Jesus' classroom. Say amen. It's his classroom. You can't say, or somebody says, well, this is my preacher, or that is my preacher, or this is my. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's strife. Church can't have it. Why? Because strife builds on the idea that we have some rights. And we don't have any rights. What rights does a dead man have? We're crucified with Christ.

15:55 And we don't have any rights. Nothing done with strife. You see, look at it again. strife speaks of a party spirit, and then vain glory, that speaks of a proud spirit. Two things that cause disharmony, a party spirit or a proud spirit. You see, what's wrong with pride? Well, there has never been strife in a church without pride. You say, are you certain? Absolutely.

16:27 The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, only by pride cometh contention. Only by pride. You've never had contention unless somewhere, somehow, pride is a part of it. Only by pride cometh contention. Now, what's the difference between strife and vainglory? He warns against both of these right here. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Strife is putting someone else down. Vainglory is lifting yourself up. And either way, either way, whether by strife you're putting someone else down or by vainglory you're lifting yourself up, you are contrary to the mind of Christ. Now, he's talking here about humility. Lowliness of mind is not thinking lowly of yourself. It is primarily not thinking of yourself. You know, he's going to say, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

17:28 Would you say he thought lowly of himself? He says, I'm co-equal with God. And he is. Humility is not thinking lowly of yourself. Humility is not saying, I am no good. I've said this before. If Margaret Lafferty says, oh, I can't play the piano, that's not humility. That's a lie.

17:58 That's a lie. Of course she can play the piano, like few people in this world. But she's a humble person. She's a humble person. I've seen her with that spirit of humility. Not because she thinks lowly of herself, because she knows who she is and what she is. Now, my dear friend, we are to have not only humility and not only harmony and humility, but here's the third ingredient that makes for unity in the church, and it is helpfulness, helpfulness. Look in verse 2 of this same chapter. He says here, Fulfill ye my joy, be ye like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. mind, look in verse 4, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

19:00 You don't come to church for what you can get. You come to church for what you can give. William Booth founded the Salvation Army. He was an old man. They were having a Salvation Army convocation. They wanted to hear from their founder, William Booth, who was very infirm. They wanted to know what William Booth would say to them.

19:30 And he sent a telegram. And in that telegram was one word, others. That was it. Others. That's what Paul is saying here. Others, look at it. Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Others, Lord. Yes, others. Let this my motto be. Let me live for others that I may live for thee. And friend, I am certain that if you have in your heart a spirit of harmony, a spirit of humility, and a spirit of helpfulness, you'll be a wonderful, wonderful member of this church. Now, how are we going to do this? Do you have what it takes? No, sir. Do I have what it takes? No, sir.

20:22 All right, I've talked to you about the reasons and the requirements. Let me show you the resource. How, therefore, are we going to do it? We'll look in verse 5 of this same chapter. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Was the mind of Jesus a mind of harmony, humility, and helpfulness? Of course. He's just describing Jesus. And then he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, that is others, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, humility, and became obedient unto death, harmony, even the death of the cross.

21:17 It's Jesus who has done this. Now, you see, God says that you are to let this mind be in you. It's not by struggling that we obtain this. It is by surrender that we let the mind of Christ be in us. Now, notice how he finishes this in verses 13 and 14. For it is God, look at it, folks. We talked about this the other night. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing. Do you see it? How do you do it? It's God. It's God in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Therefore, you can do all things without murmurings and disputings.

22:13 You see, it's Christ in us that gives us the power, the ability to do these things. Let me just share this with you and I'll be finished. Nelson Price wrote these words and I want to share them with you. C.S. Lewis, the perceptive British writer, astutely noted this in his captivating work entitled The Screwtape Letters, he depicts screw tape, that is the devil, giving advice to his nephew, Wormwood. So this is the devil's nephew in the screw tape letters. His favorite recruiter on earth, that is Wormwood, is the devil's nephew doing such a good job on earth. And here's what Screwtape tells Wormwood. Quote, the church is a fertile field if you can just keep them bickering over details, structure, organization, money, property, personal hurts, and misunderstandings.

23:21 One thing you must prevent, don't ever let them look up and see the banners flying. For if they ever see the banners flying, you have lost them forever. Now what banners is he talking about? The banners of Prince Emmanuel, our king. I mean, don't ever let them catch a glimpse of the glory. Just keep them arguing about these things. And then Nelson Price went on to say this, yet in a small Tennessee town, there's a small church with its name out front on a sign, Left Foot Baptist Church. It was named years ago when foot washing was in vogue. A great debate erupted in the fellowship over whether to wash the left or right foot first. This group withdrew and named the church after their favorite foot.

24:20 And then Nelson Price says, while looking at feet, it's hard to see the banners. And then this other illustration, and boy, what a pertinent one this is. In 1917, the bishops of the Church of Russia, 1917, the bishops of the Church of Russia held an eventful meeting which resulted in a heated debate. Just down the street, a struggling party of Bolsheviks was plotting an effective, bloody, and ruthless overthrow of the Tsar. Their eventual implementation of their plan established their new regime known as the Communist Party. Oh, yes. What were the bishops debating? The debate of the bishops.

25:12 It was an effort to resolve their bitter division over whether to use 18 or 22-inch candles. That's what they're debating while the Bolsheviks are planning a bloody revolution. All I'm going to say, beloved Bell viewers, let's keep our eyes on the banners. And God's people said, Amen. Let's pray. FATHER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORD. WE LOVE YOU, OH HOW WE LOVE YOU, AND HELP US TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.