So far in our study of the epistle to the philippians, Pastor Paul has drawn up a rich and inspiring picture of Christian ambition, of heavenly mindedness, of spiritual goals and aspirations in light of Christ’s blessings towards us. and last week we recapped all of this to bring us to the conclusive command: stand fast in the Lord. But while we’ve been pleasantly floating in what might feel like the heavens, active servants of God know that service isn’t a bed of roses, and not just because of external opposition or environments, but even amongst fellow Christians. inevitably, because of our sinfulness, disagreements arise. the question then is: How must the Christian body, the church of Jesus Christ think about itself differently to other organisations? how must brothers and sisters in Christ regard each other as they work together for the cause of Christ? Is there a way for us to overcome all of these disputes, big or small? Welcome back to tried and true, and in today’s episode, Pastor Paul deals with the all-too-real struggle to maintain Christian unity, presenting the solution from Philippians 4 verses 2 and 3. Here’s pastor Paul.
in His high priestly prayer, the Lrod Jesus prayed in John chpater 17 verse 21 for the believers, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
Indeed we believers need to be united together, as much as possible, not just because it would make our lives that much easier and more pleasant, but simply because that was and is the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. for us to experience and exercise the kind of selfless, earnest unity that Christ has with His father. and the only way we’ll be able to do this is by recognising our brethren as belonging to the Saviour, just as we ourselves do. by imbibing and practicing the mind of Christ, and by knowing that it is not our own strength that will unite us with our brethren, it is the all-powerful, all-encompassing God who brings us together as brethren in Christ, He will unite us and help keep us united, if only we are right with Him.
Thank you for taking your time to listen to this message with us today. I’m your host Joshua Nah, and if you’ve found this episode helpful to you, do consider sharing it with your friends. Next week, we’ll pause our study on the epistle to the philippians to learn from the parable of the unforgiving servant - a closely related topic to today’s episode: what is the importance of forgiveness in the Christian life? How do you muster the heart to forgive someone who has wronged you so many times before? That’s next week, here’s on Tried and True.