Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

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Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

Paul is saying, if there is any benefit to being a Christian, demonstrate it by getting along with one another, by being united with one another. What is the solution to problems in the church, relational or doctrinal? He says the solution is unity.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Chances are there is at least one person that you have a hard time getting along with. Maybe you'd even call that person your enemy.

Well, today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress reveals an attitude choice that we can all make to ensure harmony in our relationships and rewards in the future.

Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Guys, you have two more days before Valentine's Day. And if you want to surprise your beloved wife with a vacation of a lifetime, it's not too late to sign up for the Pathway to Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The dates are May 5th through 16th. On this extravagant tour, we'll spend 11 glorious days aboard a luxury cruise ship overlooking the stunning Mediterranean Sea, stopping along the way in significant places like Santorini, Greece, Naples, Italy, and the historic city of Ephesus, where so much of our Christian faith was pioneered. So what are you waiting for? Come and join us. All the details for your vacation are available at ptv.org.

Now let me introduce you to our topic today. Have you ever stopped for a few minutes to make a list of your enemies? Most of us don't spend a lot of time dwelling on our naysayers until we're faced with a crisis. But look, all of us have people who don't like us. I can attest to that. People who hear me stand up for the truth don't always agree with me.

Well, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul gives us a tutorial on how to treat our enemies. And I've addressed this topic in a book I've written for you. My book is titled *Outrageous Living: Above Your Circumstances*. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make sure you receive your copy right away.

So how do we transform a relationship with someone who's become an adversary? I mean, someone who can't stand to be in our presence. Let's look at Philippians Chapter Two for the answer. I titled today's message, "How to Make Your Enemies Love You."

Speaker 3

Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey tells a story about a time that he went to an expensive restaurant in New York City to eat. He sat down, the waiter came by, delivered the rolls, but delivered no butter. Senator Bradley said, "May I please have some butter?" The waiter gave a slight nod. About five minutes later, no butter. The waiter came by, and Senator Bradley said, "May I please have some butter?" Again, the waiter nodded and disappeared somewhere. Ten minutes passed, still no butter. Finally, when the waiter came by, Bill Bradley had had enough, and he said, "Perhaps you do not know who I am. I am the senior senator from New Jersey. I am a graduate of Princeton University, a Rhodes scholar, a former player for the New York Knicks basketball team. Right now I'm the Senate chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Energy." The waiter looked at him and said, "Perhaps you don't know who I am. I'm the guy in charge of the butter."

You know, anytime we try to pull rank on people, it usually backfires, doesn't it? That's why Jesus said, "Whoever exalts himself"—translation, "whoever tries to be Mr. Big"—"is going to be humbled. But whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." What is humility? How does it work? And why is it so key to our relationships? Paul's going to answer all of those questions in the passage we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, turn to Philippians Chapter Two, as we discover how to make your enemies love you. Does anybody here today have any enemies? Well, today we're going to discover how you can make your enemies love you.

Now, remember, Paul is talking to us in this letter about how to maintain our joy in light of what's happening around us. In Chapter One, he talks about how to deal with difficult circumstances. Paul had his share of difficult circumstances in prison, facing what could have been his execution. And yet he remained joyful. The key to maintaining your joy in spite of difficult circumstances is purpose—having a purpose bigger than yourself. That's what Paul did. His purpose was to glorify God, and that purpose helped him maintain his joy.

But when we come to Chapter Two, Paul's going to shift the focus from difficult circumstances to how do you handle difficult people in your life? How do you keep difficult people from robbing you of joy? And the answer, in a word, is humility. Instead of using people, learn to serve people. In this chapter, Paul is going to do three things. First of all, he's going to exhort us to exercise humility. Secondly, he's going to explain what humility is. And then third, he's going to give the greatest illustration of humility in all of history.

First of all, let's look at the exhortation, the command for humility. Now, remember what was going on in the Philippian church. Paul was in prison, but he received word that this church he loved and had founded was starting to have fractures in it. There was starting to be disunity. Some of that disunity was due to doctrinal problems in the church. Turn over to Chapter Three, Verse Two. Paul addresses the doctrinal dissension that was going on in the church. In Verse Two, he said, "Beware of the dogs." What does he mean by dogs?

In the first service today, the 8:00 service, my good friend, trumpet player Stacy Blair was here. Many of you know Stacy Blair. He's been blind all of his life. He brought in his seeing-eye dog with him. I said, "Stacy, I haven't seen you in a long time." He's a great jokester. He said, "Robert, I've never seen you before." But he said, "I'm glad to be here." He had his dog with him. That dog sat there throughout the service, slept just like a lot of the people at the 8:00 service did. It was wonderful. But when Paul talks about dogs, he's not talking about pets in the church. He's not talking about seeing-eye dogs. He's talking about, he says in Verse Two, "the evil workers, the false circumcision." He's talking about false teachers that had invaded the church at Philippi. He said, "Be on guard against them."

Hardly a week passes by that I don't receive a letter or a phone call or somebody calls our call center and says, "Why does Dr. Jeffress feel compelled to criticize other people's religion? Why doesn't he just let people believe what they want to? Why does he speak out against Islam or Mormonism or Seventh Day Adventism? Why does he do that? Why not just live and let live?" Because that is my responsibility as a pastor, a shepherd of this flock, to protect this flock from evil teaching that would lead people away from Jesus Christ, and that was the Apostle Paul. His job was to protect the church at Philippi, and he did that faithfully. So he says, "Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers."

There were doctrinal issues in the church, but there were also problems in the church caused by relational issues. There were relationship problems in the church. Turn over to Chapter Four, Verse Two. He addresses actually two women in the church. He said, "I urge Yodia and I urge Senki to live in harmony in the Lord." These were two women who were members of the church at Philippi. Apparently, they were having a feud with one another. We're not told what the source of the conflict was. Perhaps it was something within the church. One of the women was chosen to be the women's ministry leader, and the other one was passed over. Or perhaps it was a conflict outside the walls of the church. One of the women's daughters made the cheerleading squad; the other one didn't. And so there was this rivalry, this bitterness that was going on between these two.

Now, listen to me. It always happens this way. When we have bitter feelings toward another person, that bitterness does not remain self-contained. It always spills over onto other people. And that is why it is so important, especially in the church of Jesus Christ, that we practice forgiveness, that we not bring into this house of God bitter feelings toward another Christian, because it will always spill over to the congregation itself. Remember what the writer of Hebrews said. He said, "See to it that no one of you comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes problems, and by it many are defiled." Bitterness affects everyone. And it was affecting this church at Philippi as well.

Well, those were the problems. What is the solution? Well, he tells us what the solution is. In Verses One and Two of Philippians, Chapter Two, Paul writes, "If, therefore, there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." Let me share with you the Jeffress paraphrase of Verses One and Two. Paul is saying, "If there is any benefit to being a Christian, if there is any benefit to having the Holy Spirit of God indwell your life, demonstrate it by getting along with one another, by being united with one another."

What is the solution to problems in the church, relational or doctrinal? He says, the solution is unity—being united in spirit. Verse Two. What does it mean to be united? What does it mean to be united in the church? Let me define unity by telling you, first of all, what unity isn't. Okay, first of all, unity does not mean unanimity. We don't have to be unanimous to be united. There's this strange teaching going on in the church today, many churches today, that says unless a church is unanimous in a decision, it should never move forward in any decision. Folks, if you wait until the church is unanimous to move forward, you won't move anywhere. It's just not going to happen. If you have two or three together—wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there shall be a disagreement—doesn't that say that in the Bible somewhere? Well, maybe it doesn't, but it's true. You get Christians together, you're going to have disagreements. You don't have to be unanimous in order to move forward.

Think about the Old Testament. For example, Numbers, Chapter 13. Remember, God had said to the Israelites, "Go into Canaan, take the land, it is yours." Moses sent the reconnaissance team in. They came back with a report. Ten said, regardless of what God said, "There are too many giants in the land. We can't do it." Two came back; the minority report said, "Yes, there are obstacles, but God is going to help us. He's promised to." But we need to move forward. They weren't unanimous in their report. Not at all. In fact, the minority report was the right report. But the people didn't move forward, and they missed God's blessings. God did not ask them to be unanimous before they went forward.

You say, "Well, now, Pastor, that's the Old Testament. But now in the New Testament, in the church of Jesus Christ, it's different. Because we're all indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and because we're all indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit isn't schizophrenic. He's not going to tell one Christian to do one thing and another Christian to do something. So until all Christians are united, we should move forward unanimous." The problem with that is it is true that every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Every Christian has all of the Holy Spirit the moment he's saved, not just part of the Holy Spirit. We receive all of the Holy Spirit the moment we're saved. We have all of the Holy Spirit. But sometimes the Holy Spirit doesn't have all of us.

You see, that's what the filling of the Spirit has to do with being controlled by the Spirit of God. And the reason we can't wait until we're unanimous to move forward in the church is this: First Baptist Dallas is like many other churches, and we have all kinds of people in this church. We have saved and unsaved that are sitting in the pew right now. We have some people that are baby Christians, some people that are carnal Christians, some people that are spiritually mature Christians. We have all of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit doesn't have all of us. So to be united doesn't require unanimity—an agreement on every decision.

Secondly, to be united doesn't require uniformity either. Unity does not mean uniformity. The word uniformity refers to a sameness that comes about from outside pressure. We get our word uniform from it. How many of you ever went to a school where you had to wear a uniform before? How many of you have done that? Do you know any teenager or any child who would choose to wear a uniform? Any child that would choose to say, "I want to dress just like everybody else and put this uniform on?" Most children don't do that voluntarily. The reason they wear uniforms is there's an outside pressure—that is, the school administration—that makes them dress the same way.

Now, we should not have that kind of outside pressure in the church that requires all Christians to be the same. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two fingerprints are alike, no two Christians are alike. If I were to ask you, let me illustrate that. If I were to ask you, "What is the most important thing the Church of Jesus Christ could be doing? What's the most important ministry in our church right now?" Some would say, "Well, Pastor, you don't even have to ask the question. Certainly the most important thing is evangelism—going out on Monday nights, evangelism explosion. Everybody knows that's the most important thing." Other people would say, "Oh, no, the most important thing is prayer. We must be a praying church. Prayer is the most important thing." Other people would say, "Well, intense Bible study, our connection classes, learning the Word, that's the most important." Some people would say, "Missions. That's the most important thing for the church."

Now, which answer is the correct answer? They're all correct. All of those are important functions and purposes of the church. The reason God gave us different spiritual gifts—and we'll talk about that in the days ahead—the reason we all have different spiritual gifts is it helps keep the church balanced. God gives us different interests, and with those different interests comes a different perspective on things. You know, don't require that everybody be just like you. God made one of you, and He said, "That's enough." Okay? He didn't need any more of you running around. You're important. But God put different people in the body of Christ to bring balance.

Well, if unity doesn't mean unanimity and uniformity, what does it mean for us as Christians to be united? Look at Verse Two; he tells us. He says, "Make my joy complete by being of the same mind." To be united means that we have the same mind. But Pastor, you must be losing it because you just told us a moment ago that as Christians we don't have to think the same way. Well, that's right. There are a lot of things that we don't have to agree on, even in this church. There are a lot of differences of opinion in this church, even about theological issues. There are different perspectives on the end times. I'm preaching on prophecy, as you know. My perspective is that of a premillennialist. I'm pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture. That's one opinion. And then there's the wrong opinion. I mean, there are two different ways of looking at things. But we don't require even that to have to be united.

And what we think about the gifts of the Spirit. There are people in this church who believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit are still operational. There are people here who believe the gift of tongues is operational. Do we require that you believe a certain way about the Holy Spirit and the gifts? Of course not. But all of those things are secondary issues. Those are secondary issues. When Paul says we need to be of the same mind, he says we have to agree on the basics. If we're going to be united as a church, we have to believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to be united in our belief of the inspiration, the inerrancy of the Bible. We have to be united in our belief of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ for our sins. We have to be united in our belief that Jesus Christ is coming back, literally and physically, to set His kingdom up on this earth. Those things we have to be united about.

Philip Melanchthon said, "In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, diversity; but in all things, charity." And that's how we ought to be in the church. We're of the same mind. Secondly, we have the same love—that is, for God and for one another. And we need to be united in the same spirit and have the same purpose. Verse Two. Well, how do you do that? How do you have the same love, the same purpose, and the same mind when there is such diversity in a congregation? By the way, how do you pull that off in your own home? How do two people who are so different maintain unity, the same love for one another when they are so diverse? In a word, it's humility. The key to maintaining unity in spite of diversity is humility.

And Paul explains what humility is in Verses Three and Four. Look at what he says: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind." Underline that word humility. "Let each one of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." A businessman was asked to give his testimony in his local church. He stood up and he started to get carried away. He said, "I have a net worth in the seven figures. I drive two luxury automobiles. I have an exquisite mansion. I have everything that I could ever want in life. What more could God give me than I do not already possess?" He paused for dramatic effect, and someone in the back shouted, "How about a dose of humility?"

Humility. What does it mean to have humility? Look, to be humble doesn't mean you go around in the worm mentality. "Oh, I'm just a lowly worm. I'm nothing. God have pity on me." That's not humility. Okay, what is humility? Well, in terms of ourselves, humility means seeing ourselves as God sees us. Romans 12:3 says, "Let no person think more highly of himself than he ought." In terms of ourselves, humility means realizing that any good thing in our life is the result of either what other people or God has done for us. Humility means realizing any good thing in our life is the result of either what other people or ultimately God has done for us. Remember what Paul said in First Corinthians? He said, "What is it that you have that you have not received? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you have not received it?"

I want you to think for a moment of anything that you could be proud about in your life. Any accomplishment you could be proud about. Now think for a moment. Isn't that accomplishment somehow attributable to other people? If you say, "Well, no, no other person was involved in that," didn't at least God have something to do with it? If nothing less than giving you the breath of life so that you could accomplish whatever you're so proud about—that's what humility is. Realizing that any good thing in our life is the result of either what God or other people have done for us.

But when it comes into terms of other people, humility means putting the needs of other people above ourselves. Andrew Murray said, "Humility doesn't mean thinking badly of yourself. It means not to think of yourself at all." Humility means putting the interest of others above your own. My oldest daughter, Julia, attended Kanakut camp in Missouri. Some of your children have attended there. I remember she came back after one year at Kanakut, and they had learned an acrostic for the word joy: J, O, Y. They said that stands for "J is Jesus first, the O others second, and the Y you last." Jesus, others, you. That's what Paul is saying. To be humble means to place the interest of others above your own.

Now let's go from the ethereal to the intensely practical. Okay? What does humility mean for you and for me? Husbands here today, for you, humility means being willing to give up your right, your need to play golf on Saturday afternoon or to watch that game on television—to give up your rights, your needs in order to take your wife to the mall. That's humility. And by the way, don't you agree it takes great guts for me to stand up here and preach that with my wife sitting on the front row? Somehow I know those words are going to come back like a boomerang. But that's where humility is. It's putting the needs of other people above your own.

Moms, for you today, humility means putting on hold—not canceling

Speaker 2

I have much more teaching to share, so please make it a point to join us again tomorrow when I continue the message on how to make your enemies love you. In the meantime, I'm hoping you'll get in touch with us right away to request your copy of the book I mentioned earlier. There's a whole section in my book on learning how to deal with difficult people, including your enemies. God's word is so practical, and Paul helps us know how to respond when the joy stealers attempt to derail us. A copy of my book, *Outrageous Joy*, is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

As a companion to the book, I've also created a convenient Scripture card that includes some of my favorite verses from the Book of Philippians. It's called the *Standing on Promises of God Encouragement Card*. You can hang this up in your office or anywhere you'll easily see it as a constant reminder that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. When you include a generous gift, I'll send both the hardbound book *Outrageous Joy* and the *Standing on the Promises Encouragement Card*.

Let me close today by thanking our new Pathway Partners for joining the family in recent days. A Pathway Partner is someone who agrees with our mission to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word. Through their monthly giving, our Pathway Partners are making a huge impact on those who hear this daily program. Perhaps today's the day you'll agree to join their ranks. Signing up is simple, and when you give your first gift as a Pathway Partner, I'll make sure the resources I just described are promptly sent to your home.

Thanks so much,

David.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. A copy of *Outrageous Joy* is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Request your copy of the book by calling 866-999-2965 or online. Simply go to ptv.org now.

When you give a gift of $75 or more, you'll not only receive the book *Outrageous Joy*, but also our current teaching series on audio and video discs. The series is called *Living Above Your Circumstances*. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could also write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. That's PO Box 223609, Dallas, TX 752.

I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again Thursday when Dr. Jeffress concludes his message called "How to Make Your Enemies Love You." That's right here on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here.

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