Would you like to become a more loving person?
And by the way, is there someone in your life
right now that's hard to love? Well, stay with
me. Help is on the way to deliver on those two
things. Welcome to this edition of Living on
the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of this
daily program is to intentionally disciple Christians
through the insightful Bible teaching of Chip
Ingram. And in just a minute, we'll begin his
series, I Choose Love, based in Philippians chapter
2. For the next several programs, Chip will walk
through four biblical expressions of love and
how we can apply these truths to our relationships.
But before we get going, if this is your first
time listening to Living on the Edge, or you
want to learn more about what we do, go to livingontheedge
.org. You'll find many resources on various topics
and countless programs to enjoy. Or if you prefer,
the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get
plugged in with our ministry. Well, if you have
your Bible ready, go to Philippians chapter 2
as Chip kicks off his series with his message,
Love Gives. One of God's greatest joys is to
see his children love each other. Isn't that
amazing? The God of heaven, the God that created
the stars, the God who made us, the God who sent
God the Son to die in our place. One of his greatest,
greatest joys is when we love one another. And,
you know, I know as a parent, I mean, isn't that
true? For those of you that are parents, I had
twin boys. And Therese and I have sons that are
twins, and Eric and Jason, and they're five minutes
apart. I mean, for the first 18 years of their
life, I mean, at times they dressed the same.
They had, you know, the same classes, the same
room, the same everything. Did they fight? I
mean, fought. I mean, to the point of, I mean,
physical. And I'll never forget the time we came
home from a little getaway a couple days. And,
well, how'd everything go? Oh, things were great.
Things were great. And, you know, they were kind
of standing kind of funny against a wall or something.
And I didn't even notice it. And we had a great
time. And years later, you know, when families
get together and adult kids tell you what really
happened. Oh, Dad, we couldn't believe you and
Mom didn't even notice that Eric and Jason got
in a fight, and Eric went to punch him, and he
ducked, and he put his fist through the wall,
and we patched it and painted it, and we were
so afraid you would find out. I remember Teresa
saying once, because she grew up with two sisters,
she said, do you think they'll ever, ever love
each other? I said, honey, this is kind of normal
stuff, yes. I mean, we have to set boundaries
and discipline. But I just want you to get that
God's heart, it breaks his heart when we fight.
It breaks his heart when we have feelings inside
that are resentful and bitter. And when you have
an unresolved relationship with another believer,
another brother, another sister, maybe you did
business with them. Maybe you were in a small
group with them. Maybe it was in another church.
I don't know. But I'm going to ask you, get your
heart open. God wants to deal with because it
matters to God, not just because it brings him
joy, but it's so important. It's such a priority
to him. If we could eavesdrop the very last night
when Jesus was praying in John 17. I mean, you
read that prayer, Father, Father, make them one,
even as we are one. You and me and I and you
and us. In them. Father, I pray that as I leave
that you would cause there to be a supernatural
unity in order that the world would know. That's
a prayer that only you can answer in your home.
Only I can answer in my relationships. And not
only does God the Father find joy when we love
one another, and God the Son prays passionately
and commands us to love one another and says
the gospel, its validity is based on whether
the world sees us love each other, the Apostle
Paul commands it. In our study in Philippians
chapter two, follow along, I'm reading in the
Phillips translation. He says, now if you experience
of Christ, if there's any encouragement and love
means anything to you, If you've known something
of the fellowship of his spirit and all that
it means in kindness and deep sympathy, and then
here's the command, make my best hope for you
or my joy come true. Live together in harmony.
Live together in love as though you had only
one mind and one spirit before you. So just before
you open those notes, I want you to think about,
Is there any relationship that you don't have
harmony that's out of sorts? And I'm pushing
a little bit because we tend to push these down.
Could have been two months ago, two years ago.
Could be 20 years ago. Could be, you know, an
in -law situation or a brother or sister you
haven't seen in 20 years. God. wants to get a
hold of our hearts and our life. And Philippians
chapter two is gonna teach us how we can choose
love and experience it. Now, as you open your
notes, I want you to see the structure of this
passage. First of all, there's a very clear context.
There's conflict without, and there's conflict
within. The conflict without, you know, there
was persecution. There was difficulty. There
was pressure. These Philippian Christians, just
like Paul, I mean, they were getting intimidated.
They were getting persecuted. They were having
struggles and conflicts from the pagan world
and even from some Jewish false teachers. I mean,
not a lot different than what we see happening
more and more and more today is that, you know,
people are intimidating Christians. People are
becoming more afraid as believers. to stand up
and stand strong because of external pressure.
But in this particular church, there's conflict
within. We'll learn more about it in chapter
four when we meet a couple ladies that apparently
had a real conflict that was causing a rift throughout
the whole church. And you and I have both seen
that happen in a small group or in a family or
in Sunday school class. And so then there's a
very, very interesting command. I gave the words,
live in authentic Christ -empowered unity. Now,
the way he says it is, make my joy complete.
I mean, he said, you've brought me great joy.
You came to Christ. Remember, I was in that Philippian
jail and we had fellowship and you all came to
know the Lord and there's this tremendous movement
happening in this church. He said, so I've received
joy now. Make my joy complete because since Paul
is now in Rome, some things have happened, like
happened in lots of churches and lots of families
and lots of small groups. You know? This person
thinks it ought to be this way. And this person
says no. And well, you said this to my daughter.
Well, this is how you treated my son. Well, you
know, every time you come, you know, you think
you're the hottest stuff and blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah. And there it goes. And so Paul says,
make my joy complete. And he says, I want there
to be authentic Christ -empowered unity. In other
words, he says, I don't want just you to, you
know, put up with each other. I don't want it
to be just superficial. From the heart, I want
you to love one another, resolve the conflicts,
forgive one another, care for one another in
a way that Christ has cared for you. Look at
this very, very interesting structure. The structure
here, he says, notice it says there's an if -then.
In Greek, and I won't... get too detailed here,
but there's called conditional clauses. And we
have them in English as well. But what I love
about the Greek language, it's so clear. There's
like three or four types of conditional clauses.
So when it says, if, then, if, then, you know
for sure what they're talking about. This is
called a first class condition. And the idea
is it's assumed to be true. And so notice what
he says. He goes, if there's any encouragement
in Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any
fellowship with the spirit, if any tenderness
and compassion, And you could translate all that,
since you have encouragement in Christ, since
you have comfort, since you have fellowship,
since you have tenderness and compassion, then
make my joy complete by, notice, after these
four incentives, be of the same mind, maintaining
the same love, united in spirit, intent on one
purpose. It's interesting here. He's going to
tell us that unlike the golden rule, which is
do unto others as you would have them do unto
you. His premise goes a little bit differently.
I call it the platinum rule. Do unto others as
God has already done unto you. In other words,
the entire premise, what happens in conflicts
and struggles and relationships is we think just
horizontal and they did that and they don't deserve
that. And when she apologizes or when he does
that or when one of my kids comes back and really
says, you know, dad, I'm really sorry and I understood
this or I understood that or, you know, what
they said at that last Thanksgiving or that family
reunion, I'll never talk to them again unless
what they need to do. He said, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no. He said, here's what
I want you to get. The basis of loving people
isn't how they've treated you, good or bad. The
basis of our love is a choice. I choose love.
And here's the basis of the choice. The basis
of the choice is this is how God's loved you.
He has encouraged you. He's come alongside you.
He's forgiven you. been tender, you now have
the fellowship. He has come to take up residence
in you. He sealed you with his spirit. He's adopted
you. He's given you spiritual gifts, a tenderness
and compassion. The word tenderness here is splachna.
It has the idea, it's rooted in the idea of something
deep within the bowels. There's something tender,
deep in the character of God that you are his
treasure. And then the compassion is an outward
external evidence of an action that you so matter
that he did something. And what he did was...
He chose to go to the cross. He chose to love
you and me when we were his enemies. While we
were yet enemies, Christ died in our place, Paul
tells us in Romans 5 .8. And so the basis, the
incentives, all four of these incentives. This
is how you have been authentically, deeply, unconditionally
loved. Now, make my joy complete and be unified
authentically from the heart. And now he's going
to show us exactly what biblical unity looks
like. You're listening to Living on the Edge.
We'll get back to our series, I Choose Love,
in just a minute. But quickly, I want to remind
you that we're in the middle of our mid -year
match. Thanks to a few close ministry friends,
every gift we receive until June 30th will be
matched dollar for dollar. For more information
about how to partner with us, go to livingontheedge
.org or call 888 -333 -6003. Thanks for doing
whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin
Chip now for the remainder of his message. Number
one, he says, be like -minded or of one spirit.
Literally, it means think the same things. And
the focus here is on truth. See, genuine unity
is built on truth. It's thinking, it's content,
it's doctrine. These things are true. So often,
and I see it more and more today, it's unity
is sort of like, oh, let's just love everyone,
don't judge anyone. It's pseudo -unity. I mean,
who are we to say anything? Let's just let this
slide. Real unity demands truth. It demands truth
about what the Scripture says about morality.
It demands truth about what the Scripture says
about sexuality. It demands truth about doctrine
when it talks about the very narrow way to go
to heaven and by what Christ has done in him
alone. But it's truth that's held in agreeable,
winsome, non -defensive, and it's not a way of
pushing it on other people, and it's never argumentative,
but it's unwavering. steadfast, striving, battling
for the truth, standing firm, lovingly, kindly,
winsomely, but refusing to move off. He says
unity is rooted in truth. Second, he says maintaining
the same love. He says it's not just about the
truth. This phrase here is have the same love,
mutually love one another the way God has loved
you, honestly, sacrificially. You know, we talk
a lot about Romans 12 here as the profile of
what it is to be a disciple. And in Romans chapter
12, there's a section in the middle about loving
one another, and it says, outdo one another in
honor. Be devoted to one another in brotherly
love. This is the idea. This isn't like some,
yes. well, you know, she's not as spiritual as
I am and I guess they made a mistake. And so,
you know, I'll treat them and I'll forgive them
because, you know, I am superior. He said, no,
this has got to come from the heart. Biblical
unity has to do with a genuine spiritual transformation
that flows from an internal passion and concern
that God gives you because you have received
it. Now you give it third notice. It has the
idea of united in spirit. Literally, the phrase
is like -souled. It means to have a common heart,
not just that you care, a common heart, that
you're real, that you're authentic. No superficiality.
And then the last one here is intent on one purpose.
It's a unity that you say, we're in it together.
We're going to resolve our issues. What God has
done for me, I'm commanded to pass on to you.
Paul, we're gonna make your joy complete, and
here's how we're gonna do it. We're gonna be
one mind, truth. We're gonna be one heart, care
for one another. We're gonna have one soul. We're
gonna connect, and we have a common purpose,
the gospel going forward, people being loved,
the poor being fed, people with HIV knowing someone
cares, the people that are struggling with sexual
identity issues know there's a church somewhere
that cares. that wants to help, that doesn't
condemn, that doesn't bend on the truth, but
actually wants to help people that are marginalized
and struggling. This is what he's talking about.
And it's that kind of love that turned the world
upside down and continues to turn the world upside
down, family by family, small group by small
group, church by church, community by community.
God has called this church at this time when
it appears that the world is falling apart and
that America is so divided. God is calling you
and he's calling me. Make my joy complete, my
children. I want you to choose to love. And when
you cross your arms and say, not after what they've
done to me or, you know, I think those people
are crazy and why are these people doing this
and why are they tweeting that and I'm so ticked
off. Can you imagine, honestly? I mean, honestly,
can you imagine the God of heaven looking down
upon the creation that he's made and then looking
closely at his people, the church? I don't mean
buildings. People within the spirit of God, his
living. You talk about someone that ought to
be ticked off. And yet he's patient and kind
and gracious. And he's saying to you and he's
saying to me, this is a priority. This is a non
-negotiable. I'm commanding you to choose to
love one another. Not the golden rule, the platinum
rule. I want you to love other people the way
that I've loved you. Now, I hope at this point
you're saying, okay, I get it. And those of you
that are a little more honest with yourself,
could be saying, you know, I can't do that. And
you know what? You'd be right. I can't either.
In fact, God doesn't expect you to be able to
do it, but he's going to tell us exactly how.
So I want you to go back to that former business
associate, that ex -mate, a dad, a mom, a son,
a nephew, an in -law. A current reality at work.
A current, maybe it's not a huge conflict, but
something that keeps rubbing you the wrong way
with a roommate or in your marriage. And then
I want to open the text and what we're going
to learn from God's word, if you're willing,
is that we can choose love and we can learn how
to be. a more loving person. Now, there's no
magic pill. If you think that, you know, in the
next, you know, minutes or so, I'm going to give
you some magic pill. Oh, I'm loving, I'm loving,
I love everybody. No, no, no, no, no. We're going
to face some hard things because what we're going
to learn is why we're unloving, the drastic approach
and what we're going to have to deal with in
order to become loving. And then we're going
to start this journey of choosing love. And I'm
going to share Some real practical ways that
every single person in this room and every person
in the classic service and every person that's
watching online and every person that ever listens
to this ever, where we can actually go on a journey
empowered by the Spirit of God and become more
loving. Notice the right side of your notes.
And it just asks this question, and we're going
to answer it in just a minute. And the question
is how to become a more loving person. Choose
to declare war on, write the word, selfishness.
Choose, declare war on selfishness. And as usual,
when I go high tech here, my iPad is not working,
so I think I'll go with a little bit less technical
one that you all have. Turn to Philippians chapter
2 if you're not already there, and let me read
for you this command. Philippians chapter 2,
we've looked at verses 1 and 2. Follow along
here in chapter 2 as we read verse 3 and 4. Do
nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but
in humility of mind consider others. more important
than yourself. Verse four, let each of you look
not only on your own interest, but also on the
interest of others. You may be looking at this
and saying, declare war? Aren't you getting a
little radical here? No, no. We're born with
this innate ability to be selfish. In fact, let
me define selfish ambition here. Four words.
I want my way. That's selfish ambition. I want
my way. This is Living on the Edge with Chip
Ingram, and you've been listening to part one
of his message, Love Gives, from our series,
I Choose Love. Chip will be back shortly to share
some helpful application for us to think about.
One of the greatest delights of God's heart is
to witness His children, those of us who call
Him Lord, loving one another. Yet, we all know
this isn't always easy and often doesn't come
naturally to us. In this short study, Chip walks
through the four characteristics of love laid
out for us in Philippians chapter 2. Discover
how to apply these truths to your relationships
with others and God so you can love more and
love better. To listen to this entire series,
visit livingontheedge .org or the Chip Ingram
app. Well, Chip's joined me in studio now, and
Chip, we're continuing our study through the
book of Philippians, and today you began focusing
in on chapter two. Well, take a minute, if you
would, and unpack what you'll teach us in the
coming programs. Well, you know, Dave, this is
one of my favorite books. In the first chapter,
Paul actually models for us how we can choose
joy and experience it. And now he's going to
teach us how we can choose love. And it has some
of literally the most important passages in all
the New Testament. And what I love, it's not
just a gooey, emotional, sentimental, even romantic
kind of love. It's the kind of love that has
power. It's the kind of love that cares and gives
and serves. and takes families that are broken
and puts them back together, and takes races
that hate each other and causes them to forgive
and love. It's the kind of love that really changes
things. And what I love about it, it's not a
finger pointing, get with the program, you ought,
you should. It's a kind of love that grows out
of the model of Jesus and the power that he actually
puts inside of our lives. I think you are going
to absolutely not only love this, but be transformed
by it. Thanks, Chip. Well, I hope you'll join
us for every part of this series. And to help
you get the most out of Chip's teaching, download
his message notes. They're a helpful tool that
includes his outline, all the scripture references,
and key fill -ins to help you remember, then
apply what you hear. Get them under the Broadcasts
tab at livingontheedge .org. App listeners tap
Fill in Notes. Well, here again is Chip to share
that application we promised. As we wrap up today's
program, I don't know if you caught it, but there
was a little phrase that we tend to think and
actually act horizontally. In other words, in
relationships, we tend to think, well, she did
that or he did that or they really ought to do
that. And if you've ever sat at a coffee shop
and not really tried to listen to other people's
conversations but just happened to catch what
they're saying. You might observe that the great
majority of conversations in coffee shops are
two people talking about someone else. It's really
interesting how we find some, I think, kind of
perverted pleasure in talking about what some
other political party ought to do or what the
government ought to do or what someone at work
did or talking about my husband or my wife or
one of my kids in not such good terms. And the
platinum rule that we talked about is doing unto
others as God has already done unto you. I mean,
we know the golden rule. We know the joy that
happens when we treat others the way we want
to be treated. But I think sometimes we say,
yes, I want to do that, but I don't have the
power or I don't have the will. I don't have
the motivation. And as this chapter of Philippians
2 opened up, what we really heard was, if there's
been any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort
in His love, and we learned that that little
word, if, really means since. Since God has loved
you, since He's changed you, since He's poured
out all that you need, so take what He's given
to you and pass it on to others. Could I encourage
you today to think of one person that you have
a little bit of a problem with, and then I want
you to ponder the platinum rule, and I want you
to say, Oh, Lord, since you've accepted me and
you've loved me and you've helped me, I'm going
to choose to have an act of kindness toward this
person. It might be a note. It might be a text.
You might pick them up coffee and drop it off
at work, but do something kind for someone that
you struggle with. Watch what happens in them.
and then watch what happens in you. Good challenge,
Chip. Hey, before we go, I want to quickly remind
you why now is a great time to partner with us
financially. Thanks to some close ministry friends,
every gift we receive until midnight on June
30th will be matched dollar for dollar. So if
you'd like to be part of the work this ministry
is doing, support us during our mid -year match.
Sending us a gift is easy. Go to livingontheedge
.org or call 888 -333 -6003. That's 888. 333
-6003 or visit livingontheedge .org. Tap listeners,
tap donate. Well, join us next time as Chip continues
his series, I Choose Love. Until then, I'm Dave
Drewy, thanking you for listening to this edition
of Living on the Edge.