Alright, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2. We're going to
begin in verse 19. We'll read on down to the end
of the chapter. Paul said, I trust in the Lord
Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be
of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded
who would naturally care for your estate. For all seek their
own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But you know
the proof of him, that as a son with the Father, he has served
with me in the gospel. Him, therefore, I hope to send
presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But
I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet
I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother
and companion in labor, a fellow soldier, but your messenger,
and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you
all and was full of heaviness, because you had heard that he
had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh
unto death, But God had mercy on him, and not on him only,
but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent
him therefore the more carefully, that when you see him again you
may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him
therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation. Because for the work of Christ,
he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack
of service toward me." Our subject is like-mindedness. And the Lord,
as we've seen in this chapter, the Lord gives all his people
like-mindedness. But he especially gives his ministers
like-mindedness, his preachers. and particularly the mind of
Christ. And that's what we have here. I want to first point out that
it's the Lord who gives pastors. The Apostle Paul here, he wanted
to send Timothy to them, but he didn't even look to himself
to do that. He knew it would only happen
if it was the Lord who sent Timothy. And so he said, I trust in the
Lord, Jesus, to send Timothy shortly to you. He didn't take
it upon himself just to send Timothy. He knew that the Lord
is the one who gives his pastor. He knew that. Paul knew it was
Christ who sent him. He said in 1 Timothy 1.12, he
said, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for
he hath counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
Now we know that Paul He wasn't faithful of himself, he was a
sinner. And that's so with all God's
ministers, they're all just sinners. Fallen in Adam, dead, depraved
sinners, just like those that the Lord sends them to. But the Lord called Paul, and
he rode Paul in his righteousness through faith, and he made Paul
faithful. And that's why he counted him
faithful. He made him faithful. Look with me over at Acts 9.
Acts 9, this is after the Lord had arrested Paul on the road
to Damascus. He was going to persecute God's
people. And the Lord shined the light,
put him in the dust, and the Lord was sending Ananias to Paul. Paul's the only man in the New
Testament Scripture, after Christ arose, he's the only one that
was called without a preacher. And that's because he was an
apostle, and apostles had to be called by Christ personally. And so Christ called him personally.
But even with Paul, the Lord sent a preacher to him. And I
want you to see what happened here with Ananias, Acts 9 and
verse 10. And I particularly want you to
hear what the Lord said, the reason why he called Paul. Look
here. Paul said, He counted me faithful.
He made him faithful. And the Lord told him what he'd
have to suffer. Look here in Acts 9.10. There was a certain
disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a
vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And
the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the street which is called
Straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul
of Tarsus. For behold, he prayed. First
time ever Paul had prayed. Now all the times he had said
prayers, all the times that he had gone through his religious
show, this was the first time Paul had ever actually prayed.
Christ had called him and given him a new heart. And look here,
and it said, and he's seen a vision of a man named Ananias coming
in and putting his hand on him that he might receive a sight.
And then Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard by many of this man
how much evil he's done to thy saints at Jerusalem. See, Paul
wasn't faithful on his own. Paul had done a lot of wickedness
and evil to God's people. And Adonais had heard about him.
Adonais was afraid of him. And he said, and here he hath
authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy
name. But the Lord said to him, go
thy way. for he's a chosen vessel unto
me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children
of Israel. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my sake." You see, the Lord made
Paul faithful. The Lord had all this ordained
for Paul. And the Lord gave Paul grace
when he called him, gave him faith, and he kept giving him
grace and kept giving him faith, and he made him faithful. He
gave him this mind of Christ. That's what Christ does for his
people. And look, and Ananias went his way and entered into
the house and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, The
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way, as thou
camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and
be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from
his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received sight forwith,
and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat,
he was strengthened. Then he saw certain days with
the disciples which were at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ
in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. You see, Paul
said, the Lord called me and the Lord made me faithful and
that's why He imputed faithfulness to me and He put me in the ministry.
I didn't put myself in the ministry, Paul said. And so Paul said,
if it's the Lord's will, I trust in the Lord to send Timothy to
you. But he deferred to the Lord as to whether or not it was the
Lord's will to send Timothy to the church of Philippi. I've
had some interaction with the churches in the past whose pastor
had died or either moved away, a church in Arkansas and a church
in Tennessee and then the church here. And there's been other
churches I've seen in the past who decided that they would put
a pastor in the pulpit, the church would do it, or that, and worse
is if when a preacher, a man decides he'll put himself in
the pulpit, And that never turns out good. But the Lord, when
He puts His man in the pulpit, the Lord will protect him and
keep him, because He's going to give him the mind of Christ.
It's only the Lord that gives pastors. Jeremiah 3.15, the Lord
said, I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. In Ephesians
4.8, Ephesians 4.8, until you left, whenever our Lord had redeemed
His people at the cross, it says, Verse 8, when he had ascended
up on high, he let captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Verse 11, and he gave some apostles
and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ. So this is why Paul,
though he is the elder pastor, this is why Paul said, I trust
in the Lord. to send Timothy to you. He didn't
know if it was the Lord's will or not, so he's trusting the
Lord because the Lord gives his pastor. And the Lord equips pastors. That's the second thing I want
you to see. Verse 20, back in our text, Philippians 2.20, Paul
said in verse 20, he said, I have no man like-minded who would
naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the
things which are Jesus Christ's. Paul had written a lot in this
epistle about like-mindedness, and he writes a lot about like-mindedness
in all his epistles. We're born of one spirit. We're
given the mind of Christ, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2. And
so God's people are going to be of one mind. We have one faith,
one Lord, one baptism, one God and Father who's in each of us.
We'll have one mind. And the Lord does this for His
pastors too. And this was high commendation
from Paul. He said, I have no man like-minded
with me as Timothy. But it's sad here that he says
of other preachers, he said, all seek their own. You remember
what he said about Demas? He said, He said in 2 Timothy
4.10, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world,
and is departed unto Thessalonica. Now, that doesn't mean necessarily
that Demas apostatized from Christ and left the gospel. I hope it
didn't. I hope that's not what happened.
I think John Gill is correct that the Lord showed mercy to
Demas and granted him repentance and saved him. I think that's
so because later Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians and in Colossians
4.14 he talked about who was with him and he said Luke the
beloved physician and Demas. And we hope that's the same Demas. John Gill thinks Demas is short
for Demetrius, and he thinks that's who John was writing about
in 3 John 1.12. He said, Demetrius had good report
of all men and of the truth itself, yea, and we also bear record,
and you know that our record is true. And that would really
exalt our Lord's grace and mercy and forgiveness for Christ's
sake. if Demas tried to depart and the Lord brought him back
and showed him mercy and restored him. But what likely happened,
here's what, we don't know the details, but here's what likely
happened, because Paul said Demas was at Rome with him. What likely
happened is, Paul's saying, he's saying, I might die at any moment.
He's expecting he's gonna be killed by Caesar at any moment.
And so, likely Demas saw it was getting
hot in the kitchen and Demas decided he wasn't sticking around. And so he left. And he left Paul. You know, whenever the Lord Jesus
beheld us, when he saw his people, he saw us bound just like Paul
was bound. He saw us under the captivity
of the devil, under the captivity of our sin nature, and the only
way we could be freed was for Christ to go right straight into
the fire, for Him to be tempted of the devil, for Him to be made
sin and to bear the curse of His people. And rather than leave
us to ourselves, Christ Jesus went right into the fire for
us. He came right to where we are
and He bore the fierce fury of God's wrath for His people to
free us from our curse and our condemnation and from our sin
nature. And that's what Christ did for
us. And when he calls his pastor, that's the like-mindedness he
gives his man. He puts the mind of Christ in
him. He gives him an understanding of what Christ did for him in
a way that makes him just want to serve the Lord for his people. He has to do that. Go with me
over to Luke 14. This is what our Lord said about,
and this is so not just the pastor, this is so of all of us, brethren.
Luke 14, this is the like-mindedness that the Spirit of Christ gave
to Paul, and he gave to Timothy, and he gave to Epaphroditus,
and he gives to all his ministers, and to his people. Christ said
this in Luke 14, 15. You know, people get excited.
And somebody got excited there when our Lord was speaking. And
one of them that sat at meet, verse 15, Luke 14, 15. One of
them that sat at meet with Him heard these sayings and said,
Unto unblessed is he that sleep bread in the kingdom of God.
Well, that's a real easy thing to say. Real easy thing to say. Then said He to him, A certain
man made a great supper and bade many, and sent his servant at
suppertime to say to them that were bidding come, for all things
are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I bought
a piece of ground. I must need go see it. I pray
thee, have me excused. Another said, I bought five yoke
of oxen. I go to prove them. I pray thee,
have me excused. Another said, I've married a
wife and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed
his lord these things. And the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city and bring here the poor and the maimed
and the halt and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it's
done as thou has commanded and yet there's room. And the Lord
said to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel
them to come in that my house may be filled. For I say unto
you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my
supper. And there went great multitudes
with him and he turned and this is what the Lord said to them.
Here's what he meant by all of that parable. The Lord turned
to him and he said, if any man come to me, And hate not his
father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
sisters. Yet his own life also he cannot
be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his
cross and come after me, he cannot be my disciple." What does that
mean? It means you have to love Christ
preeminently over everybody else. So that not even your own wife,
not even your own father, not your mother, not your sister,
nobody can turn you from trusting Christ and following Christ.
And if he's called you to be a minister, to preach Christ.
Nothing. And only the Lord will give you
the grace to do that, but nothing. Christ said, if a man put his
hand to the plow and looked back, he's not fit to be my disciple. Christ gives His servants and
all His people, including His ministers, a new spirit, not
to seek our own. Not to seek our own. That's all
we were doing before He called us. We were seeking our own righteousness.
We were doing it by our own works. We were seeking our own way.
We were seeking riches. We were seeking things of this
world. I mean, that's all we sought was our own. That's all
we were interested in. But when the Lord calls you and
gives you faith, He turns you from seeking your own. You're
not your own. You've been bought with a price.
Christ bought you with His blood. These things aren't what's important.
What's important? Calling the last of His sheep.
If He calls the last of His sheep today through this gospel, one
of these children sitting here might be the last select child
of God. And God might call them today.
And if He does, you know what? Not one thing you and I have
accumulated in this world is going to matter. None of it. Having Christ is what will matter. And that's all that matters now.
If He doesn't come for another 5,000 years, all that matters
is having the Lord Jesus Christ. And if He's given you faith to
believe Him, He's given you a deposit of riches that this world can't
even offer you anything worth that. And He's filled you with
the unsearchable riches of Christ to know you've been made righteous
and holy and accepted of God in Him. And He's put something
in your hand to do? If he called you and said, it's
your job to lock the door every day, if he's given you like-mindedness
with Christ, you would not let anybody or anything stop you
from locking that door. Because that's what he gave that
to you to do. And that's what our Lord is saying. wherever he calls his servant. It's not like a job where you
pick and choose where you're going to go. Wherever God calls
his servant, you have to go there. It's not an option. It's not,
well, let me mull it over and see if that's where I want to
live or not. That is not an option. You go
where He calls you to go. Think about Paul. Do you think
Paul wanted to be beaten? Do you think Paul wanted to suffer
at the hands of the Pharisees? Do you think he wanted to be
bound and carried down to Rome? But that was the Lord's will.
Why? Because the Lord had some elect people that Christ redeemed
in Caesar's house. Paul's got to go there and preach
the gospel to them. And nothing that comes to pass
in our lives is stopping us from doing what Christ has called
us to do. When Paul was arrested, and it might look like to the
average person, they might think, well, Paul's being turned away
from his ministry and he's not going to be able to minister
anymore. No, he ministered the whole way to Rome. That's what
Christ called him to do. He preached the gospel the whole
way to Rome. And when he got to Rome, the Lord made it so
he could have people come to where he was. where the jail
was and he could minister to them and he kept preaching the
gospel. But cares of this world and thinking
about our own and just being concerned about what's best for
me, mine and mine, me, mine, mine. The Lord said, the one
that receives seed among the thorns is he that hears the word
and the care of this world. They're legitimate cares. You've
got to care for your family. You've got to care for wife and
children and father and mother. You've got some legitimate cares.
But he said, the care of this world and the deceitfulness of
riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful. He's choking
out. You know that can't happen for
one of God's elect. But that still is a warning to
you and me not to seek our own. Not to seek our own. Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not of the Father, but is
of the world. And the world passes away, and
the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. You remember when the Lord when
Peter and other apostles and the Lord was telling them, I
must go to Jerusalem and I must be bound and I must go to the
cross and be crucified and I'm going to die and I'll raise again
a third day. And Peter took him and said,
Lord, that's not going to happen. How many times? I don't want
to see my brethren suffer. I don't want to see you suffer. But when Peter tried to stop
the Lord from suffering, the Lord said, you don't savor the
things that be of God, you savor the things that be of the world,
that be of man. It's necessary we suffer. It's
necessary our brethren suffer. Sometimes the worst thing for
them is to try to get them out of it. It's the worst thing. Because the Lord is going to
bring His child through it in the right time, in the right
way. He's going to instruct them just
like they need to be taught. And they're going to come out
of it better. Just going to be so. What is
it to seek the things of the Lord? Number one is the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. It pleads God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You might not be a preacher.
But you've been called to support the preaching of the gospel.
And everything else is subservient to it. All my relationships in
this world. In heaven, there's no such thing
as biological family. Biological family has nothing
to do with this. God's people are spiritual family.
Born of God. Made one in Christ. And biological
family has nothing to do with it. Period. And the number one
thing is the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. And that's
because the number two thing is the salvation and the good
of God's people. And above all is the glory of
God and our Lord Jesus. By God's grace, by the Spirit
of the Lord, Epaphroditus had this like-mindedness. Look here
in verse 25. Paul called him my brother. He
called him my companion in labor. He called him my fellow soldier.
This is a warfare we're in. It's a warfare we're in. He said,
that's my fellow soldier. We got one weapon in this warfare,
it's the preaching of the gospel. I'm in Philippians 2, 25. He
said, but he's your messenger. He's your messenger. Paul wanted
him to be able to stay there with him. Paul didn't have anybody
with him in Rome. He's suffering, big time. And
he's willing to send Timothy to them. And then, because Epaphroditus
was their pastor, he sent Epaphroditus back to them. And look what he
said about him. He said, he ministered to my
wants. For he longed after you all." That's why Paul is sending
him back. He was full of heaviness because
you heard that he had been sick. And Paul said, indeed he was
sick, nigh unto death. And he said, but God had mercy
on him. In doing so he had mercy on Paul. Paul said, receive him
therefore in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation. Do a word study sometime and
see how much Scripture talks about holding his ministers in
reputation, in high esteem. This is why Paul said, do it.
Verse 30, for the work of Christ, he was nigh to death, not regarding
his life to supply your lack of service toward me. Where do sinners get a spirit
like that? Where do sinners get a spirit like that? Look back
up at verse 5. 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. I said, when the call comes,
a man goes, he must go. It doesn't matter if he wants
to go there, to that place or not. Do you think the Lord Jesus
would have chosen to come to this hell, hole, cursed earth? But he did. He made himself of no reputation.
I'm sure Demas was worried about his reputation. Demas was worried
that if he hung around Paul, all the other brethren had forsaken
Paul, and if he hung around Paul, he was probably going to have
to bear some of that heat too. Christ didn't worry about his
reputation. He took upon him the form of
a servant and made in the likeness of men, being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Our Lord Jesus didn't come to
be ministered to, he come to minister. You know, if you ever
really just looked at the life of the Lord, He just went around,
walking around, preaching the Gospel. That's what He did. Preaching
the Gospel. And He illustrated the grace
He works in the hearts of His people through the preaching
of the Gospel by healing people, physically. But He was doing
far more than that through preaching the Word. Those physical healings
was what He was doing in the hearts of His people. But His
whole life just consisted of wherever He was, Whatever he
was doing, preaching the gospel. And then the time came where
he went to the cross. And he bore the beating, he bore
the cursing, he bore them calling him everything under the sun,
trying to justify why they were rejecting him to men so men would
see why they were rejecting him. He bore all that. Why? For you
that know him. For you that know him. He bore
that to save His people and glorify God His Father. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that you through His poverty might be made rich. Hadn't He
made us rich? He has made us so rich, brethren.
You have eternal life. Nothing can harm you. Nothing
can harm you. Spiritual death came by the disobedience
of one. Adam and righteousness, eternal
life, came by the obedience of one, our Lord Jesus. He was proven
faithful from the cradle to the death of the cross, and so as
our substitute and our surety, He denied Himself in sinless
perfection. He renounced His own will in
absolute perfection. He willingly gave Himself to
God's will in perfection. He willingly gave His body to
be broken and His blood to be shed for His people. And He bore
the fierce fury of God's wrath for His people. Christ's pastors are sinners
saved by grace just like those they're sent to minister to.
But his pastor, he does give his pastor the mind of Christ
to love those he's ministering to and to want to serve them
no matter what comes. Paul said, every one of us is
given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
It's different gifts, but it's the same Spirit. Different administrations,
but it's the same Lord. Different operations, but it's
the same God which worketh all in all. Now look why Epiphanius
did what he did. Look what he was doing. Why was
he sick unto death? You see Christ in this. Why was
he sick unto death? He was serving the brethren at
Philippi because they couldn't provide for Paul. They couldn't
serve Paul from Philippi. So he went there and almost died
to serve Paul in their room instead. You see a beautiful picture of
Christ in that and what he did? He served on the behalf of his
brethren. and having been born of the Spirit,
given the mind of Christ, Paul's mind and Epaphroditus' mind and
Timothy's mind, your mind that he's given to you, given you
the mind of Christ. Our mind is this. Paul's mind
was to do what he told believers to do. He said, if you're risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above. Where Christ
sits at God's right hand, set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth, for you're dead. You are dead. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. And when Christ appears, you'll
appear with Him in glory. These are the important things.
Seek the things that be of the Lord, not the things that be
of our own. of our own self. I pray the Lord
give us the mind of Christ to seek those things that be of
Christ, not the things that be of this world. Let's go to Him,
brethren. Our Lord, we thank You for this
Word. Thank You for Your mercy and Your grace. Father, what
an amazing thing that You've chosen to save us sinful wretches. Reveal Yourself to us. Give us
a mind to understand you and know you. You've given us a heart
to believe you and trust you, and a desire to serve you. Lord,
our service is not very much. It's very feeble. We spend far,
far more time seeking our own than we do the things of Christ.
We need your mercy and forgiveness constantly. We've never served like our Redeemer
served for us. We've never had our body broken
for you, never shed our blood for you. Lord, don't let us ever seek
our own things. Don't let us look after our own
safety. our own reputation, let none be more important in our hearts
than Christ. If we love Christ preeminently,
and will love others as we ought, Lord, make that a reality for
us. and forgive us our sins and forgive us our unbelief. We thank
you, Lord, for your mercy. Thank you for providing us faithful
pastors that preach the gospel to us. Thank you for revealing Christ
to us. It's in His name we ask it, Lord. Amen.