Hey good morning
Hey, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. Let me jump on the computer here. Make sure we're going live everywhere. Make sure we're going live online we are at Philippians chapter one Philippians chapter one. beginning at verse 27. For some reason, one of the There we go, perfect. For some reason something wasn't going to start but I think we're ready to go. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. This where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year, Lord willing, we'll get from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. We're at Philippians chapter one beginning of verse 27. And we'll make our way into chapter two. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Oh, Lord, we thank you so much for who you are. What you have done, Father, we need your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would teach us this morning. We pray that we would understand your word and that you would let us live it out. In Jesus's name, Amen. All right, so we are at Philippians chapter one beginning at verse 27. Philippians chapter one beginning at verse 27. Here we go. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith. of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by our adversaries, which is to them proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God, for to you has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict would you saw in me and now here is in me, therefore, if there is any consolation of Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. While we need to ask ourselves a What's this about be what's the best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to these words, so first, verses 27 through 13. This is speaking about how Paul wants to hear a good report from them. That he's in chains, right? He's just finished saying that whether I live which is Christ or die is gain what I going to choose, I don't know. And now he says and I want to hear about it from you to about you. He says, Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. As there is social pressure as there is political pushing as there is tribulation in trials. He wants them to stand firm in their faith. He wants them to have a laser focus on Jesus Christ to know that their hope is in Jesus Christ, that for them to live as Christ and to die is gain and that as they live out that life of faith in front of disbelieving people they might see there's something different about that. Because if they don't, and they see them buckling under pressure, what they'll think is maybe this is all just perdition. Or if if they're showing themselves as the rocky soil that quickly received this word with great joy, but then tribulation and persecution comes and they are scorched up and fade away. Then those who are looking on from the outside might say, Well, seems it wasn't true. But he tells them that they are to be striving together for the faith of the gospel, that they could suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ. That should be what our fellowship is like. Now I'm going to warn you, it's easy to break this. It's very easy to just distance yourself from other Christians. It's very easy to just go and do your own thing. It's really hard to be reconciled with your brothers and sisters. It's really hard to to live your life sacrificially for other people. It's really hard to live as Christ. It's really hard to suffer for the sake of Christ. These things are not easy. I'm gonna say not even possible, apart from the Spirit. So we must be those who are united in spirit because we have the Spirit of God living in us and part of the fruits of righteousness is living together and suffering with one another. And so he says, This is what he wants to hear about them having the same conflict which you saw in me and now you hear is in me, and then he goes on in verses one through four of chapter two, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy. So he's saying if the Gospel is true, right if,
if in Jesus Christ, there's any prize, if there's any comfort that comes from the love of God that is poured out upon us if there's any fellowship that the Holy Spirit creates this communion between us, if there's any affection and mercy if there's any heartfelt desire for one another, and a showing of mercy towards one another, fulfill my joy, how, right that should be the natural question, how would we fulfill his joy by being like minded, having the same love being of one accord, of one mind? He wants us to have unity. The Holy Spirit desires for us to be of one accord. That's why Jesus says if you've if you know that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar go and go reconcile to your brother. This is taken so seriously that in the early church, there's this ancient document called the DFA. And in the teaching this document, it specifically says if there's two people and there's a known conflict between them, don't let them come to worship until they don't let them take the Lord's Supper until they actually get along until they reconcile right taking this that seriously. Live in one accord, having the same mind of one being of one accord of one mind, let nothing how is this accomplished? I think verse three answers, verse two. How do we have that type of fellowship with one another? How do we have that type of agreeing? How do we have that type of care? Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. How will we have a sense of unity? It's by getting rid of conceit. It's by having humility. It's by emptying ourselves and loving others. It's by putting away selfish ambition and looking towards what other people need. This is not what humanly happens. This is not what naturally flows from the human heart. This is totally against the me myself and I mental health good. You know, I need everything culture we live in this is tough. This could only happen by being filled with the Holy Spirit. Let each one esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others. What's the best verse to summarize? These? Well, in my Bible, I have underlined verse 27. And I might also underline verse 29. But then in that second section, I have verse three, and four underlined I think that's what's getting at the heart of this. Let me know you can disagree you can have something else highlighted or underlined in your Bible. Let's see calling. I got a question for you. Are you still going to church? Are you seeking to be reconciled? With the person? You don't really like? Is there someone in the pew or in a chair near you or in front of you or behind you that you just haven't wanted to talk? Maybe it's your pastor. Maybe it's me. Maybe it's one of the elders? Would you come and reconcile? Would you go and make peace? Let me ask you, as you sit through this, and you think about this devotion, I would like for you to think about someone in the church that you could think who needs help. I'm not talking about necessarily financial help. Well, maybe you can think of somebody who needs it. Maybe there's a mom who needs some babysitting. Maybe there's someone in the nursing home who needs visited. Maybe there's some children who need some attention. Either people in the church that you could sacrificially love today. Is there a way that you can show that you live in harmony in communion with others it might cost you time, might cost you effort might cost you money? But would you live in one accord would you give up of time, energy money to go love someone today? Let's pray. Father, we thank you
for the work of Your Holy Spirit. Father, we confess our selfishness, how often we just are worried about ourselves. Lord, we need your Holy Spirit. We need you to conform us more and more to the image of Jesus that we might have humility and that we might truly love others seeing their needs and desiring to love them. Well, in Jesus's name, Amen. May Lord bless you today. As you walk in the light of the love of Jesus Christ, and may you love your neighbor as yourself. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai