05-25-03 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Philippians 2:1~8

Last Sunday, my folks and I attended the evening service of Immanuel Baptist Church in Rogers. It was a very unusual service under a tent; the very first one held at the location on a little rise in a pasture where very soon a brand new Immanuel Baptist Church is going to be built. Pastor Hatley joked that this was his first "Sermon on the Mount," and then he went on to deliver a really good message on Galatians chapter 5, the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit. He made the excellent point that in the war of the flesh against the Spirit, the battleground is the will. The action of giving in to the flesh always begins with a willful decision.

After the service, the congregation joined hands and made a human chain around the perimeter of a 200' x 200' mowed area, which signified the footprint of the new building. We were perhaps twenty people short of completing the chain, but it was a very moving ceremony as the pastor stood in the center and said a prayer of thanks and dedication to the Lord. Afterward, one of the men on the building committee walked up to my folks and introduced himself. It struck me a little funny that even though this gentleman had apparently attended the church long enough to be on a committee, he hadn't met my folks yet, who've been there faithfully for at least fifteen years. Immanuel is like most Baptist churches, where at least five minutes of every service is given over to shaking hands with everyone around you, so it would seem logical that after only a few years you would have hugged or shook the hand of everybody in the congregation. Well, everybody who attended the evening service last Sunday was given a copy of the church's business report, and after reading it, things started to make sense to me. You see, as of now, according to this report, there are 3,832 members of Immanuel Baptist Church, and I guess it is understandable that years could go by before you met everybody in a group that large, but you know, it made me appreciate this little white church. How hard is it for 3,000 people to be likeminded? In a group that large, divisions and strife are inevitable, but healing from these kind of problems are easier for a large congregation than for a small one. Divisions and strife have a far greater impact on a group of 30 people than they do in a group of 3000. The smallest of differences arising between even just two of us can cause harm to the whole body. When do contentions and strife rear their ugly head? The trouble starts when the Spirit loses even a tiny little piece of the battlefield to the flesh.

As we begin chapter two, Paul is pleading with the church:

Philippians 2:1~2
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

He's awaiting trial, thinking he's about to die, and he's sort-of saying, "If you believe the Siberian winters are cold, and if you believe the Saharan summers are hot, then please, you would fulfill my joy and I will die happy if you as a church become one mind in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:3~8
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 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, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Psalm 19 taught us last week that if you want to see God's handiwork, all you need to do is look up, and if you listen, the sky will tell you about Him. Then the Psalmist explains that an even greater appreciation of God can be learned through His precious judgments and through His written Word. Today, here in verse five, we learn the next step on the journey. We can and should have the same mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, but of course that doesn't mean that we're all to become like robots. God has given each and every one of us very different and very wonderful gifts, but we all must have the same mind as its described back in verses 3 and 4, being considerate of each other and abasing ourselves.

It's so difficult to give up everything, making no reputation for ourselves, taking on the form and manner of servants, completely humbling ourselves in obedience, even if it means death. It's hard to swallow the fact that because I have sinned, I deserve to spend an eternity in torment, but when I do come to grips with this truth, it then becomes very difficult for me to be contentious or create divisions. It's a special blessing to know each and every member of a fellowship; it's a blessing that we all share here, one that we should lovingly possess and long for others to know. I pray that we come closer together in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, with humble and thankful hearts as we share in this blessing of communion, at one with Him, as one with one another.