Stephen spoke tonight about knowing God. Recently, he has spoken about trust and wisdom and about the fear of the Lord. So often, we fear the unknown, but whilst we are called to fear God (in terms of respect and reverence), God is not unknown to us. He reveals Himself to us in many ways, including through the creation all around us. There is so much of God to know, for He is the Alpha and the Omega, our Father and Saviour, the God of life, and the more we know Him, the more our lives can be changed.

The primary way we know God is through the revelation of Him in the Bible. Knowing a person involves much more than just knowing what someone looks like; we have to know their thoughts, characteristics and opinions, and the chief way we get to know them is through communication. In the same way, we need to know God’s thoughts, characteristics and opinions and we learn more of Him as we develop in prayer.

We need to listen, hear and read the Bible in order to know more of God – in whatever medium we find easiest. These days, we can absorb the Bible through video and audio as well as through reading the actual book; we can read it on a Kindle or tablet or even on a wristwatch! Josh 1:8-9 reminds us that we need to meditate on this word day and night (see also Ps 1:2). Meditation invovles chewing over a verse, pondering it, considering its meaning and delighting in it. (Ps 119:14, 16)

We desperately need to pick up God’s word in order to develop our knowledge of God. God’s word needs to be active within us, so that our image of God matches His revelation. Rom 8:5 reminds us that spiritual minds are set on what the Spirit desires, and if our minds are focussed on knowing God, we will grow spiritually. We may not enjoy reading much, but God’s word needs to be installed in our hearts so we must pick up God’s word in order to develop our knowledge of God. Ultimately, John 6:45 reminds us that they shall all be taught by God; we need to take the word of God and read it so that we can know and be taught by Him.

Paul makes it clear that we need the encouragement from being united with Christ and the comfort from his love and the fellowship or sharing in His Spirit and to know God’s tenderness and compassion before we can reach out to others. He goes on to tell the Philippians that his joy will be made complete if they are ‘like-minded’, if they have the same love, if they are one in spirit and of one mind. (Phil 2:2) They – and we – are called to live in a radically different way to the rest of the world, doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but living in humility and valuing others above themselves, putting the interests of other people before their own interests. (Phil 2:3-4) He goes on to show us how Jesus himself did this and how this is the model for our lives in Christ. But it all starts with an understanding of how much God has done for us and from an encouragement which becomes a fuel.

Encouragement means to give courage to, to instil courage in. Most of us don’t think we are particularly brave, nor do we think that it takes courage simply to live, never mind to live well and to live by faith. But I think that courage is needed for life and that’s not simply talking about physical courage or even physical strength, admirable though those things are. For us to be encouraged, to have the actual courage we need to live for God in a world that generally dismisses God and in many areas is actively hostile towards Him and His followers, we have to meditate on spiritual truths because it’s through this meditation and pondering that we actually receive the strength and courage we need. I believe that as we dwell on the things Paul mentions in Philippians 2:1 – the knowledge that we’re united in Christ, that we are loved totally and unconditionally by God, that we share in the life of God Himself through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and that we serve a God of tenderness and compassion –  we are actually given the courage to live like this ourselves, serving others and putting them before our own interests, loving others even when that love is not returned and reflecting God’s character to a world that will only see Him through us. Our strength comes not from ourselves, but from God, a God whose weakness is stronger than our strength. 2 Cor 13:4 tells us that Christ was crucified in weakness, yet lives by God’s power, and goes on to say, ‘Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.’ Ultimately, it’s when we are weak but dependent on God that we are strong, when we are reliant on Him that we can become the people He wants us to be.

This morning we continued our meditations on Philippians, looking at Phil 2:1-11, and verses 1-4 in particular. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘You become what you think about all day long’ and it’s vital that we think about good things (Phil 4:8) and allow God’s Word to shape our lives, rather than being overwhelmed by negative influences. Focussing on Christ is essential if we are to keep strong and stand firm (see Col 1:1-3).

Encouragement From Being United With Christ (Phil 2:1)

Before we can ever talk about unity with each other, we have to dwell on the fact that we are united with Christ. Jesus prayed for us to be one as He and the Father are one (John 17:21-22) and Paul used the phrase ‘in Christ’ so many times to describe our relationship with Him. Left to our own devices, we would be a people to be pitied, a people without hope, but because we are united in Christ, in a union that nothing at all can ever shatter, we can be encouraged. It’s because of this relationship that we can rejoice, since Christ’s Spirit dwells in us and we have the same power in us that raised Christ from the dead. (Eph 1:19-21, Eph 13-14). When we understand that we individually are united with Christ and that we collectively are united with Christ, we are guarded against the isolation and loneliness so many have been feeling, and we realise we are on the winning team. (1 John 4:4)

The Comfort of God’s Love

Knowing we are loved totally and unconditionally by God is the most encouraging thing we can ponder on! Nothing at all can separate us from God’s love (Rom 8:35-39), a love that is both everlasting and unfailing (Jer 31:3, Ps 26:3). We often feel a failure and that God would not love us if He really knew us, but Ps 139 reminds us that God knows everything about us and still loves us! God is love (1 Jn 4:4, 8) and lavishes us His love on us (1 John 3:1), so no matter what is happening to us, we know that we are loved.

Partnership With God’s Spirit

Paul says we have fellowship with God’s Holy Spirit; we participate in Him or partner with Him. Rom 8:5-9 shows us the blessings which are available to us through our partnership with the Spirit are ‘life and peace’, Paul says. We are brought into fellowship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His Spirit confirms in our hearts that we are children of God. Again, these are the truths which need to occupy our thoughts and reflections, for these truths have the power to transform how we live – not in anxiety, fear, dread and condemnation, but in freedom, peace, joy and life.

Tenderness & Compassion

Many of us struggle to show tenderness and compassion, often because we have not really experienced these in our own lives. Maybe we’ve lived by strict rules; maybe we only think of God as the Father who punishes His children when they step out of line. The Bible shows us a God who is ultimately full of tenderness and compassion, however. Isaiah likens God to a mother: ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget,  I will not forget you!’ (Is 49:15) Over and over again, He is described as compassionate: ‘As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.’ (Ps 103:13-14) We see a God who cares; it says in Matthew 9 of Jesus, ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ (Matt 9:36) Later, as He entered Jerusalem, he wept over it (Luke 19:41); He cared passionately for people. Matthew tells us that He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, ‘A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.’ (Is 43:3, Matt 12:20) That’s the kind of God we have.

The world has recently been rocked again by issues of racism following the murder of George Floyd, a man of African-American heritage, by a white policeman, and racial discrimination continues to be a huge problem for many people throughout the world. Because our world is tainted by sin, we (people in general) seem to find it easy to find all kinds of reasons why we can exclude people and discriminate against them, and this has sadly been the case throughout history. The Jews found it easy to believe they were superior to all other races because of their position as God’s chosen people and looked down on the Gentiles (every other race) as a result; Christians have been similarly guilty of racial discrimination at times. This kind of wrong thinking and wrong behaviour is not limited to any one type of person; it’s everywhere in some form, because of sin. The Christian message is that all human life matters because we are all made in the image of God.

One of the revolutionary messages of the gospel is that there are no outsiders to God’s love, and no one can be excluded from salvation. Acts 15 and Romans 3:22-25 make it plain that the way of salvation is the same for everyone on earth: we have to call on the name of the Lord by faith and accept His way of reconciliation if we are to be saved. Peter tells us ‘God… accepts people from every nation who fear Him’ (Acts 10:35) and makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile, purifying hearts by faith. (Acts 15:9) This is the basis of our hope that God will bless all nations through Jesus and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Acts 2:21) This is the basis of our belief that racism (prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group) has no place in the church, for there should be no barriers to salvation.

In Acts 15, we see another occasion when the church faced disagreements which could easily have led to division. People had very different views about the fact that Gentiles were turning to Christ; a group of Jewish believers felt that ‘unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved’ (Acts 15:1), and some even went so far as to say the whole law of Moses had to be obeyed. (Acts 15:5) This brought them into ‘sharp dispute and debate’ with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:2), and the church at Antioch sought to resolve this dispute by sending Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to discuss this matter with the apostles and elders there. (Acts 15:2, 6)

It’s easy for us to look at this dispute with some confusion or even indifference, but what was at heart here was something fundamental to the gospel: is salvation by grace through faith, or do we have to do something (i.e. become circumcised and obey the law) in order to be saved? The conclusion reached by the apostles was that both Gentiles and Jews received salvation in the same way: ‘We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.’ (Acts 15:11) It might surprise us, therefore, to see that whilst emphatically supporting the view there was no need for circumcision, the apostles also wrote a letter asking Gentiles not to cause needless offence.

This was clearly a compromise solution, and one which we may well feel blurs the issues. So often, we see things in black and white, right and wrong, but here we see that even in a case where there was a definite ‘right’ (no need for circumcision; Jews and Gentiles are justified in exactly the same way, as Paul was to expound in Romans 3:22-25), the solution proposed involved shades of grey. Tom Wright speaks of the ‘brittle absolutism’ that so many prefer, and it’s definitely easier to become entrenched on either side of an argument in ways where we can defend our viewpoint to the death…but show little love or forgiveness to those who disagree with us. The early church avoided this difficulty through compromise; the letter was sent to Antioch and everyone seems to have coped with the proposals (which were that the Gentiles should avoid needless offence through their everyday behaviour.) Paul would go on to discuss these ideas in greater depth in 1 Cor 8 and 10 and Romans 14, and in every case spoke of the need to avoid passing judgment on others and to act with love. When we do this, disputes don’t have to lead to division and the unity of the Spirit can be maintained, even when we disagree profoundly.

As we study Acts 15, we see that the moral high ground becomes the servant low ground, and the challenge for us is how to adopt this servant spirit in all we do.

The theological argument of salvation by grace through faith alone (summarised in Eph 2:8-9) was decisively settled at the Council of Jerusalem, yet Gentiles were asked to agree to a compromise which prevented them from causing needless offence to Jews by abstaining from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. (Acts 15:29)

They could have argued it was up to the Jew to ‘get over themselves’ (in modern parlance) and simply let go of the issues. The dietary laws no longer had to be obeyed. Circumcision no longer had to be practised. ‘Get over it!’

But acting in love – the new moral high ground, so to speak – meant considering the needs of others and not using their freedom to indulge the flesh. (Gal 5:13-14, Phil 2:3-11) There is always a paradox at the heart of the Christian message, always a potential stumbling-block to our rational way of thinking.

It was hard for Jews to let go of centuries of rule-keeping to enter into the new covenant made by Jesus. It was hard for Gentiles to learn to embrace a faith built on centuries of revelation and tradition. Both sides had to compromise, and the principle behind the compromise, strangely enough, was not ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but servant love.

Jesus repeatedly taught that ‘whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant’ (Matt 20:26, Mark 10:43), demonstrating this visually by taking the basin and towel and washing His disciples’ feet, even though He was their Lord and Teacher. (John 13:1-17) If we stand arrogantly proud of our theological stance, we risk missing the point entirely. The early church navigated the storms of disagreement and dispute not through division and disunity but by mutual respect and servant love. Can we do the same?