Becoming One in Christ Jesus

(Philippians 2:1-2)

Why does the Lord want His people to be of one mind in Christ? Why is it that God wants this sense of “oneness” with Him?

This scripture today looks at answering these very questions, and while we look at them we should consider the whole concept of being “one” both with Him and with each other.

This is an important subject because we are told that Jesus and the Father are one and that we need to be one with them. We are also told that we need to live in perfect harmony with each other, which essentially means we are one. So let us look at these issues now.

What does it mean to be as one?

The scripture today says this.

1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2)

Within these words, we are given both an instruction to be one, and also what that means. We are also told WHY it is important that we learn to live and be as one with Christ and one another.

What it means to be one is to be of the same mind with each other.

The work of transformation that the Holy Spirit is doing in each of the people of God is that He is changing the way we think. The aim is so that we are like Christ since that is the change that is occurring in us, as the scripture says:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

This is the work of transformation from the Holy Spirit. He is changing us slowly but surely, from one degree of glory to the next, into the image of Jesus Christ.

And Paul continues on in the scripture being reviewed today saying we must also ”…have the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

If we are to be one in Christ and with each other, then we must also show full evidence of the love of God in our lives. God is love, and so too is the Son of God who bears the image and stamp of the nature of the Father.

The ongoing walk that we have in Jesus Christ is leading us to be in the love of God. As we grow and mature in Jesus Christ, we grow into the love of God and we learn how to walk in love.

Why do we need to be one in Christ?

The first verse in this scripture today gives us the reasons why we need to be as one. It says:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, (Philippians 2:1)

These are the reasons why we must be one in Christ.

Firstly, it is for encouragement so that we may be encouraged and be able to encourage others as we walk in the Lord. There are desperate issues in the world today as we see every evening on the six o’clock news. And the situation will continue to worsen because we are in the end days, just before the second coming of Jesus Christ, and that even is preceded by unheard-of disasters.

We need to be able to encourage one another in the love of Christ and the knowledge that even though these things must occur, God is with His people protecting them as the world goes through these harsh times.

Secondly, we have the need for the incentive of love. Love is the end game. It is the target we are all aiming at; to be perfected in the love of God.

And the incentive in love is that we WILL live with Christ and the Father when we are perfected in love. Part of getting to that place is learning how to walk in love now so that in the future we can be perfected in love and be forever in the love of God. This is our incentive in love; to be with God.

The third reason why we must be as one in Christ is for the participation in the Spirit.

All the children of God are partakers in the Holy Spirit, but it is not enough just to receive the Spirit. We must learn from the Spirit and how to prepare ourselves so that the Spirit can do His work of transformation. We must immerse ourselves in the word of God so that we can arm the Spirit with the sword to effectively fight against the devil.

As we participate in these things we grow and the Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ, who is the image of the Father, who is love personified.

And the final reasons why we need to be one is for affection and sympathy.

We show brotherly affection to our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. We must remember that as a Church we are a group of coequal brethren where none is better or greater than anyone else.

From the newest convert to the longest standing member of the congregation, in Christ we are equal. There is no distinction on the basis of age, understanding, gender, race or anything else. In Christ, we are one brotherhood.

And there is also the need for sympathy because as we grow in Christ we see the errors of this world. We see the things that people do in the world, not realising how they are harming themselves or others. We see the choices that are made that oppose the truth of Jesus Christ and lead to destruction.

And we are sympathetic to those who are recent converts and have just barely escaped from the evil of this world and have yet a long road ahead of them. In sympathy we help them to see, teach them, protect them and do what we can to help as the Holy Spirit opens their eyes to see the truth.

How do we become one in Christ?

We become one in Christ by following His ways.

Christ gave us an example of how to live if we are to be like Him. We need to read and learn from His example and take in the teachings He gave to help us change.

In addition, we must learn and understand the workings of the New Covenant and what it means so that we can be set free from sin in Jesus Christ.

One of the most important things is that we must trust and obey the Lord. He gave us many instructions on how to follow Him, and we must learn to do it His way.

There are many who want to follow Christ in their own way or want to pick and choose what they will do. But there is only one way to come into the presence of God, and that is by following His way, which comes through faith in Jesus Christ. After all, Jesus said:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

If we want to know the right way to get to God, then we go through Jesus because He IS the ONLY way. There is no other way to God except by the means established in and through Jesus Christ.

We must learn to come to Him in the patterns and pathways that He established because there is no other way. All who think they can come to Christ without following in His ways will be lost. The ONLY way to find Christ is His way, so we must learn from Him and ascertain what that way is.

This is where we are today. We need to sift through all of the rubbish and false teachings that have brought the church low, reject the rubbish and hold fast to the grains of truth. There is no other way.

And we do this by bible study, prayer, seeking the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in the Spirit and finding the pathway to life that Jesus has set before us.

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