04 Standing Firm and Staying United (Philippians 1:27-2:4)

Speaker: Good morning. This is Krisan Marotta. Thank you for downloading the Wednesday in the Word podcast. Today we're studying Philippians chapter 1, verse 27, through chapter 2, verse 4. This is the fourth talk in our series on the book of Philippians. To find the lecture notes related to today's talk, please go to our website. You'll find them at wednesdayintheword.com slash Philippians 4. Thanks for listening. Well, the way I outlined the book of Philippians, we have finished the introductory section and we're moving on into the first major section of the body of the letter. Let's review what we've covered so far. Paul wrote this letter from prison. Most likely this was his first Roman imprisonment, which would date the letter to 60 to 62 AD. The Philippians sent him a gift of financial support, and he wrote this letter in response to the gift. Paul had three purposes in writing this letter. First, he wants to thank the Philippians for their generosity in sending the gift. Second, he wants to update them on his current situation as a prisoner. And finally, third, he wants to encourage them to persevere in and live out their faith. We saw the first two purposes in the first eleven verses. There he expressed his gratitude for their faith, the faith that led them to support him financially, and he told them that he is praying for their spiritual health. He prayed that they would have a genuine faith that manifests itself in wisdom, which leads them to love one another, and he prayed that they would persevere in this faith until the end. Then in verses twelve through twenty six we saw his third purpose as he turned to his own circumstances and talked about his current imprisonment and what that meant. In spite of his circumstances, he rejoiced that the gospel was going forward, even though he wasn't able to go out and proclaim it himself. And he said the gospel was advancing in two ways. First, the gospel was spreading through the elite Roman guard as they took turns guarding him. They would hear him talk. A guard had to be with Paul at all times while he was under house arrest, which gave Paul a captive audience to preach the gospel to. And second, others had stepped up to take Paul's place. They started proclaiming the gospel while Paul was imprisoned, and he said some were proclaiming it out of good motives, but others out of selfish motives. So we ended last week with verses twenty five and twenty six. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. So we see Paul is also rejoicing because he feels confident that he will be released from prison and he will have a chance to see the Philippians again. All the evidence we have suggests that Paul had a very warm and close relationship with the Philippians. They trusted and admired him, and he expected he would be able to return to visit them again. He expects that he'll be able to continue teaching and encouraging them and that they will mature in the faith. And that's the context for this next section. There are two phrases in today's section that tie back to what Paul has just said in this previous section. The first is in 127 where he says, Whether I come to see you or remain absent. So he says, just said he expects to visit them, but it's not a given, he may be able to come, he may not, and he doesn't want their faith to depend on his presence. He wants them to live out their faith whether he's able to come see them again or not. He expects to be able to come and visit them, but he wants them to continue in faith no matter what. And then in 2-2 he speaks about joy again. He said that he rejoiced in the gospel being proclaimed even though he was in prison. He said he rejoiced that he expects to be freed and to see them again, and then in 2-2 he says, Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. His joy in proclaiming the gospel and encouraging them when he visits would be thwarted if they didn't actually embrace the gospel and live it out. So he says, Make my joy complete by continuing to choose to embrace and live out the gospel, and they have to do that on their own, whether Paul visits them in person or not. The gospel ultimately is a personal choice. We can talk to each other, we can teach each other, exhort and admonish and encourage each other, but in the end, each of us must choose to embrace the gospel or not on our own. And he's going to emphasize that this is a choice they have to make later on. So 127 begins the first major section of the body of the letter, and that section will continue through the end of chapter 2. So 1 through 11 were the greeting or the introductory remarks. Now in 127 we begin the body of the letter, and that first major section is going to run through the end of chapter 2. But today we're only going to go through 2.4. Because in 2.5, Paul uses Christ as an example of how we ought to conduct ourselves, and I'd like to look at that in more detail next week. So after he talks about Christ, he goes on then to finish this exhortation, and we're going to look at the close of that in two weeks. So let's start with the first four verses. This is Philippians chapter one, verses twenty seven through thirty. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. So one twenty-seven is his main point or the thesis statement of this section. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. That's the ESV, the NASB translates it, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Since this is his main point, let's make sure we understand what he means by it. The gospel is a set of ideas that has implications for how we live. We believe the gospel and it should make a difference in how we conduct ourselves in the world. Because now we see the world a certain way, a new way. We begin to view some things as right and proper and good, and we begin to view other things as wrong, selfish, or evil, and then we choose accordingly. Let me give you an analogy. Imagine you're lost in the jungle, and a native comes up and says, I am the best trail guide in the jungle, and I can get you out of here. Do you believe me? And you say, Yes, yes, of course I believe you. And he says, Great, follow me, we're going north. Well, if you say, um, hmm, you know, north doesn't look really good to me. I think we should go south. That calls into question your belief. Because if you never take the trail guide's advice, then we would conclude that you really don't believe he's the best trail guide in the jungle. If you believed he was the best trail guide in the jungle, you would follow his advice. But the fact that you're not following his advice means that you really don't believe that he's the best trail guide in the jungle. Christianity is like that. It's not an empty claim. If we claim we believe in Christ or we claim we have faith in Jesus and we trust in the gospel, it means something. It's not just a theological aptitude test that you forget once you turn your test paper in. We don't study the Bible to acquire data or to find sayings to put on needlepoint pillows, or it's not a source of fodder for scholarly debate to get our names in the right journals. The Bible teaches us that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. Saving faith means embracing a certain set of truths that change your life, and it has implications. Because I believe God's way to be the true and right way and the world's way to be broken and fallen, I will begin to strive to live my life God's way. I strive to live based on what I believe to be true. And just like my jungle trail guide analogy, if I don't act on what I claim to believe, then it calls into the question the sincerity of my faith or my belief. So we might then say some of the choices we make are in keeping with the gospel. That is, they conform to and reflect the implications of the gospel, and we would say those choices are worthy of it. For instance, when we choose to be kind or compassionate or forgiving or to put the interest of others above our own and so forth, we would say those choices are worthy of the gospel, or they're in keeping with our belief in the gospel. Similarly, some of the choices we might make are contradictory to the gospel. They're opposite of the values and the principles and the applications of the gospel, and we would say those choices are not worthy of the gospel. For example, if we're selfish or thoughtless or neglectful or cruel, we would say those choices are not worthy of the gospel, or they're not in keeping with our belief in the gospel. If we really believe that the gospel is true, then the world looks different to us and our actions will be different, and our actions are going to reflect our belief in the gospel. And this is what Paul's exhorting them to do, to live their life in a manner worthy of the gospel, or to act as if they believe it's true. So this relationship between belief and actions is one of the central assertions of the gospel. It's taught in many, many of the New Testament letters, James perhaps being the most famous of them. Now I would not understand this relationship between belief and lifestyle to mean that we will never sin again once we come to faith. Living a life worthy of the gospel does not mean that you will no longer be tempted. It does not mean that you will never fail, it does not mean that you will never stumble or never again do selfish things. Living a life worthy of the gospel does not mean that you will live a perfect life. That's not what I believe the New Testament authors are teaching when they talk about this relationship between belief and a new kind of life. Rather, if we actually believe the gospel is true, then we look at the world differently and the context within which we make our decisions changes. The kinds of things we want begins to change, the things we value, the goals we strive for, they're all different after conversion. The things we count on are different, the way we speak and live may be different because we are now seeking after the things of God in a way that we were not seeking them before coming to faith. We don't do it perfectly, it's a journey and we're a work in progress. The Philippians then have heard and responded to the gospel, they trust and admire Paul, they have sent him money to further his ability to proclaim the gospel, and now he's reminding them whether I'm there in person with you or not, whether I'm released from this prison or I'm executed or I'm kept here indefinitely, you personally must take the gospel to heart. That is, they must believe it and live it out regardless of what happens to Paul. He doesn't want their faith and their belief to be dependent upon him. If we were to stop there, we could imagine all kinds of things Paul could go on to talk about because the gospel can be applied in many ways. It has many applications for how we live. So he could go on to talk about how they handle their sexuality, or he could talk about what they should do with their money, or he could talk about how they treat their marriages or raise their children, he could talk about how they relate to their boss or how they treat their employees or how they speak to their gentile neighbors, or he could talk about avoiding worldliness, materialism, and so forth. There are any number of things he could go on to talk about. And as we'll see, he goes on to talk about unity, and he picks one specific application because most likely I think it's the one they're dealing with. It's the challenge they're currently facing. The fact that he picks unity does not imply that it is primary or supremely important over all applications. Rather, I suspect he picks it because it's one of the things this particular group was facing at this particular time. 127 and 28 then again, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. So in these two verses we see two themes that are intertwined throughout this section. The first is standing firm and not being frightened by their opponents. It seems the Philippians are being persecuted for their faith, and Paul is urging them to stand firm and not waver in their faith and not let fear of their persecutors overwhelm them. And the second theme is standing firm and one spirit, with one mind striving side by side together. The idea of being of one mind or one spirit is unity. And he's going to pick up that theme of unity again in chapter two in the next few verses. Before we look at that, what kind of persecutions are they facing? Paul speaks of their opponents in 128. Well, who are they and what do we know about them? When Paul writes these letters, he's often speaking about circumstances that his readers know quite well. He doesn't have to explain what they're going through because they already know it, they're going through it. So we have to kind of read the text carefully, looking for clues as to what was going on, and then fill in with what we know from the history of the period to try to reconstruct their situation. So there are several places in this letter where Paul points to a group that is problematic in some way. And the Bible study question is how many groups are we talking about? Every time he mentions an opponent of some kind, is that the same group or are they different groups? In 115 we saw the teachers with selfish ambition. Here in 128, he speaks about opponents who seem to be persecuting them and causing them suffering. And then later in chapter 3, verse 2, he's going to say, look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Now that reference in chapter 3, I think, is his way of warning against the Judaizers. And the Judaizers were a group of Jews who were teaching that it was necessary for Christians to follow all the laws of Moses, including circumcision. So they taught, yes, you have faith in Jesus, but that's not enough. After coming to faith, you have to become a Jew and follow all of the Old Testament law. So how many groups is that? Is that one group, two groups, or three groups? Now, I understand the urge to see them all as one group, because it makes it a lot easier for us to suppose that the Philippians had only one set of opponents who were teaching the gospel from selfish ambition, persecuting them for their faith, and that were also Judaizers who were teaching them to keep the Mosaic law. However, reality is usually much more complex than that. I lean toward thinking that these are three different groups and that the Philippians are facing three different kinds of problems. The first group, the teachers with selfish ambition, are taking advantage of the fact that Paul is currently in prison. They're boldly proclaiming the gospel, but they're doing it for selfish motives. Since Paul doesn't reprimand them, I assume they're teaching the correct gospel. They're just teaching it to gain their own fame or prestige or something along those lines. They don't sound like they would be persecuting the Philippians for their faith, and they're probably not Judaizers, because Paul doesn't correct their gospel. I don't think he would find joy if they were teaching a legalistic gospel or the wrong gospel. I think that would provoke a different kind of response in him. So I think that's one group. The second group who are called the opponents, who are these people? Well, the Philippians would definitely know who they are because these are the people causing them suffering. Apparently they're hostile to the Philippian church and causing them to suffer because of their faith in Christ, and it seems to be the kind of suffering Paul experienced when he was in Philippi with them. You'll recall that when Paul was there, the first time he was beaten and jailed for preaching the gospel because it contradicted the Roman way of life. And note he says in 130, you're engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. Well, what might that same conflict be? The Philippians know of at least two times when Paul suffered for the faith with them. The first was recorded in Acts 16 when he visited them and they saw him beaten and jailed while he was in Philippi because he was undermining the Roman way of life. Now they hear that he's in prison again in Rome. They haven't seen him, but they've heard that he's in jail again for preaching the gospel. So it seems likely that they're facing that same kind of hostility, the same kind of possibility of being arrested for undermining the Roman way of life just like Paul was. We know there weren't many Jews in Philippi, and they were probably being persecuted by their Gentile neighbors just like Paul was because as Christians they were not following all things Roman and the Roman way of life. They were instead doing things a Christian way, and that would bring down the wrath of their neighbors just as it did for Paul. In chapter three we'll see him warning them about the Judaizers, and I think that's more of a theological warning. There's no strong evidence historically that the Philippians were troubled by the Judaizers the way, say, the Galatian church was, but Paul knows that heresy is out there and it's spreading and it's most likely going to work its way to Philippi eventually, so I think he's probably warning them in advance not to be taken in by it. So looking at our little section today, especially given verses twenty-nine and thirty, it seems to me that the Philippians are having to stand firm in the faith in the face of persecution by their Roman neighbors who are opposing them because they threaten the Roman way of life. So after urging them not to fear, Paul gives them a bit of perspective on their persecutors. Look at twenty eight through thirty. And not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. Well it would be very human for the Philippians to feel defeated and lost when they look at their situation. Because they can look around their town and realize, you know what, our opponents have the upper hand. Their opponents would have support from the Roman government, from the local authorities, from the legal system, and the Philippi would have very little recourse or very little way to fight back. The authority structures are not on their side. Their neighbors are not going to be sympathetic to them, and it would look, for all intents and purposes, that the like the deck is stacked against them. But Paul says, think again, this situation has been orchestrated by God to show the opposite. Just like it looked like the gospel would be hindered by Paul's imprisonment, but in fact it wasn't, their situation may look hopeless or pointless, but it's not. He's saying essentially, your opponents are the true losers, and you're the true winners, you Philippians, even though it doesn't look that way at first glance. Why? Because their opponents are demonstrating their hostility to God, and the Philippians, on the other hand, are demonstrating their persevering faith. In the end, their opponents are going to be judged, and the Philippians are going to be saved and will inherit eternal life. So I think Paul's encouraging them, step back, look at the big picture. Because if you see that big picture, it's really quite encouraging. And this is one of those themes in the passage, stand firm in the faith under persecution, remembering that persevering in faith will make you the true winners who are going to inherit eternal life. Now he turns to the other theme of the passage, which is unity. Let's look at chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry. Or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Evidently the pressures on the Philippian Church are threatening to fracture them, so he ties this idea of not being frightened by their opponents with this idea of being of one mind. The persecution seems to be threatening to drive a wedge between them in some way. We don't know what that wedge might have been, but we can imagine that there would be some strife and disagreement about how to handle the situations they're facing. Some might want to march and protest and proclaim their rights, others might want to appease and tread lightly, some might think compromise is appropriate, others might want to draw a line in the sand and defend it, and you can imagine as they hashed all that out, it would threaten to drive a wedge in between them. Now it is true that Paul writes about unity a lot in his letters, it's a theme he returns to often. And it may be that the Philippian Church is not yet experiencing a problem with unity, but Paul's writing about it anyway because it's so important and he talks about it a lot. However, we know of at least one problem with unity, which we'll see later in chapter four. In four, two he says, I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syndechy to agree in the Lord. So there was at least one case in their church where disunity was not theoretical, it was actual. And it's not hard to imagine that the church was taking sides because that's usually what happens during a conflict or debate. People line up with their favorite and you get a split. So Euodia's friends would be encouraging her, and judging Syndiche, and Syndici's friends would be most likely judging Euodia, and you can see how the church would be threatening to fracture. Let's think a little bit more about this unity. What is Paul calling them to and why is it so important? First, let me say what he's not talking about. Suppose you're a parent and you have two kids who are fighting with each other. Now, I know this is a hypothetical example, and this would never happen to any of you, but let's just suppose you have two children who need to agree about what game to play. One wants to play a board game indoors, and the other wants to go outside and play soccer. And they each need the other one to cooperate if they want to do their chosen activity. So they're fighting about which activity they're going to do. Now you as the parent tell them to stop arguing and get along, be of the same mind. As it happens, as the parent, you don't really care which game they choose, you just want them to stop fighting, because your highest priority is that the fighting stop and everyone get along. Well, that's not the kind of unity Paul has in mind. His highest priority is not let's just have the fighting stop so that things will be peaceful and life will be better. That's not what he wants. When he says he wants them to be of the same mind, he cares very much what that same mind is and what they agree about. Imagine if the Philippians wrote back to Paul and said, Okay, Paul, we took your advice, we talked about it, we reached a compromise, and we have all agreed that the gospel's a lie and Jesus is a fraud, and so the fighting is all stopped. We have unity. Well, Paul would not be pleased with that resolution. My example may sound kind of funny, but we're facing the same issue today. This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and just this week I saw an ad that one of our local churches is offering a forum on quote, how to recover unity 500 years after an attempt at reformation led to revolt. Unquote. I suspect that Paul would not be in favor of returning to pre-Reformation Catholicism just to gain unity. He cares very much what they unify around. What he wants is for their faith in the gospel to unite them. He wants each of them to commit to the gospel so that they come together in unity because they're all committed to the same gospel and the same Lord. That kind of unity does not mean we're required to give up all our different denominations. We can have significant theological differences and we can still be united around the gospel. Unity is not really an organizational issue, it's an individual issue. As individuals embrace the gospel and they embrace other people with the same faith, we will be drawn together as we recognize that our lives are about the same thing. We're headed the same direction and following the same Lord. And Paul reflects this in his language. Look again at 127. He says, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. In other words, the one spirit, the one mind he wants them to share is standing firm in the faith of the gospel together. Each of them should be so fixed on striving toward the gospel that they are running the same race. They are holding tight to the faith that they have in the gospel in the face of persecution. To be united around the gospel, he wants the kind of unity that results from being committed to the same thing. Unity is a side effect of faith. In other words, he's not saying I want you to agree on things and I've chosen the gospel as this thing that you'll just happen to agree on. He's not saying that. Rather, he's saying I want you to believe the gospel personally and tenaciously, and the result of that is that you will be of the same mind. As far as I've studied Paul's letters, every time he talks about unity, he's not talking about unity so much as he's talking about faith. Because his main point is not I want you to agree just to agree. His main point is I want you to so embrace the gospel that you are of like mind. As each of us embraces the gospel, that should be moving us toward the same kind of worldview, the same kind of choices, the same kind of values. So the other kinds of unity we experience may be nice, but they're not really what Paul has in mind. He's not concerned that they get along because he wants everybody to play nice. He's concerned that each of them personally holds fast to the same gospel. And if they do that, it will produce unity because each of them will have their hearts set on the same thing, and that is the right thing, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So being of the same mind is about content. It's about being committed to the same fundamental truth. Keep that idea in mind as I reread chapter two, one and two. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. This phrasing, if there is any, has the sense of the gospel tells you about Christ. It tells you about his mercy, his grace, his sacrifice on our behalf. Do you find encouragement in that message? If there is any encouragement. The gospel tells us about the love of God and sending his son to take our place. Does this love give you comfort? Is there any comfort from God's love as displayed at the cross? Genuine believers will have the Holy Spirit working in their lives. Do you see the Spirit at work in your life? Believing in the gospel inspires affection and compassion for the things of God and the people of God. Do you have that affection and sympathy? So I think what he's saying is if these things are true of you, and I believe they are, then let them become the grounds for unity and for being of the same mind. If you're a believer, these things ought to be true of you. You ought to find encouragement in the sacrifice of Christ. You ought to find comfort in God's love poured out for you. You ought to see the Spirit at work in your life, and you ought to have affection and compassion for God's people. So let those things unite you and bring you together. Find encouragement and comfort and affection and sympathy in the gospel and unity will come from that. They will find this true bond together through their common faith, and standing together will help them face the persecution. Now he goes on to say what that unity looks like in action in three and four. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others. In a way, this is a restatement of what Jesus calls one of the great commandments, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, but Paul gives us a little more detail. The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is rooted in the idea that all human beings are created in the image of God. Every other human being is just as worthy of respect and consideration as we ourselves are, because we are all in God's image. So you and I are not less important, but neither are we more important. We have the same dignity as creatures made in God's image. This is one of the reasons why Jesus would say, Love your enemies. But here in this context, Paul's talking about Christian unity. With fellow believers, we have this double bond. Not only are we both creatures made in God's image, but we are also bonded into God's family together. We are now brothers and sisters in Christ, so we have this double bond of being not only made in God's image, but part of the same family. We are alike in that we believe the same gospel. We are alike in that we share an inheritance in the kingdom of God. We share the most important things in this life together, and we're striving toward the same goal. So if we're called upon to love our enemies, how much more should we love our brothers and sisters in Christ? Now by love, here I don't mean a warm, fuzzy, affectionate feeling, I mean a choice, a choice to commit to each other, to seek each other's best. It's the choice to, as Paul says, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others. So I think he's talking specifically here about believers and how we ought to relate to each other. It is true that we are called to love everyone, but as believers, we share this unique double bond with other believers. And he's calling on the Philippian church to recognize that bond and be willing to look out for each other's interests. Paul is not saying we are less important than other people around us. He's not saying we should think of ourselves as worth less in comparison to others. Many of us fall into that pit at times and it's not healthy. All human beings are alike in worth and dignity as creatures made in God's image. I think he's talking about actions and choices. In your actions, be willing to sacrifice your interests to help someone else out. If someone needs help and it's going to cost you, be willing to pay that price. We can't all get our way all the time, so be the kind of person that graciously lets the other person win because we're all in this together. We're all counting on the mercy and the love of God. Well, just to close and just wrap this up, let's talk a little bit about unity, diversity, and sameness. All peoples and all cultures have to address this problem of how to get along with each other. Because we're all sinful, we're all basically selfish, and it makes sense that we're going to struggle with how to get along with each other. And the harder life gets, the harder it is to get along. We all want our own way, and we can't get our own way all the time. Now it's true that some people are easier to get along with than others, and you don't have to be a Christian to be a nice person. Many people have recognized that life goes better if you're a little bit gracious and accommodating. But that's not Paul's focus here. The fundamental issue he's concerned with is do we believe the gospel? Do we believe we need a Savior and do we believe that Savior is Jesus Christ? And what Paul wants is for his readers to fully believe and embrace that gospel. If they have done that, then they'll have a new worldview that will inspire a new kind of relationship with others who share the same worldview. So his primary concern is that faith works itself out in unity. When I embrace the gospel, I come to see that my people are people of faith. In other words, who are the people like me? Well, they're the people striving after the same gospel. So you're my people regardless of what else we share in common or don't share in common, if we share the same faith. So whether or not we have the same race, the same gender, the same political views, the same background, nationality, socioeconomic status, or whatever, all of that is irrelevant because faith can bring us together. Because we all believe that we need mercy, that we need to be saved from our sin, and that our great hope for that to happen is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this kind of unity does not mean sameness. God enjoys diversity, but he also wants the kind of oneness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ. To have unity, we don't need to become identical carbon copies of each other. We can stay different. Our goal is oneness, not sameness. But oneness without sameness is hard, and sometimes we try to force it. We try to force each other to be the same. We think everyone needs to hold the same political beliefs or have the same parenting philosophy or enjoy the same hobbies or follow the same trends or attend to the same schools or whatnot. We can mistakenly believe that oneness can only come with sameness, so we try to make each other the same. Or we can go to the other extreme and give up. We can realize that we're never going to stop being different in some ways, so we give up on the idea of oneness. If we can't be the same, we we mistakenly believe that we can't possibly be one. This was the basic idea behind segregation. This is why friendships can be broken, or why we sometimes change churches or jobs or just want to stay in our clique where the people understand us because we've given up on oneness. But our goal as the people of God is not just to integrate schools or public places or have everybody sit in church together, it's to create a real community of people who are different in some ways but follow the same Lord. And that requires the spirit of the Holy Spirit at work within us. What unites us is not that we think the same politically or we think poverty should be addressed a certain way. What unites us is not how old we are or what stage of life we're in, or our ethnicity, our language, our culture, our favorite type of church music, or even our favorite style of Bible study. We can be a diverse group of people. The creation that our Father has made is even more diverse than what's represented in any given church on Sunday. We can be one, but that doesn't mean we have to become the same. It is Christ that makes us one. And he does so not by making us the same, but by teaching us to follow the same gospel in our diversity.