"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion . . . " Philippians 2:1
This past week, I returned to my Bible study of Philippians and have been meditating on this verse. It has really spoken to me and has caused me to ask some serious questions.
What encouragement do I have from being united with Christ? Do I think about that? Colossians 2:9-10 says, "For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." I have fullness in Christ. I am in Christ and Christ is in me (John 14:20; Colossians 1:27). How does that encourage me? How does being united with Christ summon and exhort me to live for Jesus? I often forget that I am united with Christ. I feel like I am alone and assume that I have to face the trials of life in my own strength. I often get overwhelmed. But, I am called to remember and be encouraged by my union with Christ. Christ and I are one - how can I be discouraged? How can I lose heart? Of course, the result that is a result of the "If" in verse one is that we would be like-minded and one in spirit and purpose with other believers. If we are united with Christ, then the result is that we will live as one with other believers. We will live like Jesus and not out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. In humility we will consider others better than ourselves and look out for their interests. That is the result of being united with Christ - we will be united with others in Christ. John 17 speaks to this directly. The sad thing is, a lot of people will read this (even pastors) and think that it applies to someone else. It doesn't. It applies to each of us and we should be encouraged by our unity with Christ.
What comfort do I have from the love of Christ? We are to know and rely on the love that God has for us (1 John 4:16). We are to be rooted and established in love and have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17-18). There is that unity with other believers again. We know that God loves us because Jesus died for us. Scripture is clear about that. But, do you ever really think about the deep, deep love of Christ? Do you ever consider that God didn't love you after you had done a bunch of good things, but He demonstrated His love for you in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). What more can God do to show His love for you? It comforts us to know this love because we find out that we have been adopted into God's family, we are forgiven, we are secure in Christ. Nothing can take us from His love. His love is sacrificial and He laid down His life for us. His love transforms and He calls us to lay down our lives for others. Freely we have received, freely give.
What fellowship do I have with the Spirit? The Greek word, Koinonia, is used here. It denotes a joining together, a joint participation, having a share in something with someone else. We see it used in Acts 2:42 to describe the early church just after Pentecost when they had everything in common and shared their lives and possessions with one another. We get to intermingle with the Holy Spirit. We cannot stay the same. We are filled and transformed by the Spirit of God (Eph. 5:18). We join together with Him and co-labor with God. Our whole lives are turned upside down. We are not our own.
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It is assumed that if we are in Christ, we are encouraged by our union with Christ, we are comforted by His love, and we fellowship with the Spirit. These things are the basics that happen when we are Christians. But, transformation takes place if we even have any encouragement or comfort or fellowship from the Lord. We are changed from selfish people who live independently and strive to exalt ourselves over others to loving, giving people who join their lives together with others, put others first, and live to serve others. What happens in our hearts through our relationship with Christ and our experience of His love and our fellowship with the Holy Spirit, flows out of us to reflect the exact same things in our relationships with other people as we see in Philippians 2:2-4. What starts with God in our lives ends up affecting everyone around us. What an amazing message!
So, I have been thinking about these things this week. I am united with Christ. How does that change my perspective on life? I am loved by Christ. How does that comfort me? I am able to fellowship with the Holy Spirit. How does that change how I spend my day and the power by which I live? If we just focused on these three things that we have in Christ, not to mention the tenderness and compassion that we also have (Phil. 2:1), how would our lives be different? Our churches? Our communities?
Jesus is everything that we need.
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