Christian Unity in Three Steps
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Well, happy Friday and welcome back to the podcast.
00:00:06.460 | Pastor John is back in the studio with us,
00:00:08.400 | back to talk with us about Christian unity today.
00:00:11.540 | We love Christian unity.
00:00:12.900 | We aspire for more Christian unity,
00:00:15.580 | but Christian unity is not uniformity.
00:00:19.140 | Differences exist among believers.
00:00:21.660 | So Christian unity gets pretty complex,
00:00:23.740 | leading to a question like this one today
00:00:25.980 | on 1 Peter 3, verse eight.
00:00:29.660 | Here is the email.
00:00:31.540 | Hello, Pastor John, my name is Charlotte
00:00:33.220 | and I live in Yorkshire, England.
00:00:35.980 | My question for you has puzzled me for years.
00:00:38.260 | In 1 Peter 3, eight, Peter urges the exiled Christians
00:00:41.740 | to have unity of mind.
00:00:44.660 | That's Peter's exact phrase, unity of mind.
00:00:47.500 | I once heard a preacher say that this unity of mind
00:00:50.340 | does not, however, mean uniformity.
00:00:52.980 | Since then, I've struggled to understand the difference.
00:00:56.300 | We have basic creeds and confessions
00:00:59.220 | that we must all agree on
00:01:00.740 | as the very foundations of Christianity.
00:01:04.340 | Beliefs otherwise would be heretical.
00:01:07.460 | How then can we not have uniformity?
00:01:10.520 | What is this unity of mind?
00:01:13.060 | Peter didn't insert a clause that left this
00:01:15.820 | just to church leaders only to pursue.
00:01:18.420 | So how does the individual Christian pursue this?
00:01:22.860 | - I've often shared this perplexity
00:01:24.940 | about how unified our convictions and our preferences
00:01:29.940 | and our opinions as Christians should be.
00:01:33.220 | But I've gotten help, especially in recent years,
00:01:36.940 | by distinguishing between passages
00:01:40.060 | that deal with unified convictions or views of God
00:01:44.900 | or Christ or salvation on the one hand,
00:01:48.780 | and passages that deal with a unified mindset,
00:01:53.980 | or what we might call,
00:01:55.660 | because we don't have a better English word
00:01:58.180 | for this Greek idea of attitude set or disposition.
00:02:03.180 | And I feel warranted in making that distinction
00:02:06.460 | not only because there are some peculiar Greek words
00:02:10.380 | that Paul uses for mindset that are different,
00:02:12.940 | say, from theological convictions,
00:02:15.820 | but also because, for example, in Romans 14,
00:02:19.000 | he actually deals with differences of conviction
00:02:23.660 | that Christians have without pushing them
00:02:25.780 | toward unanimity of conviction,
00:02:29.120 | but rather pushing them toward unanimity
00:02:32.220 | in a certain mindset about how to handle the differences.
00:02:36.100 | So let me try to illustrate what I mean
00:02:40.220 | about the difference between theological convictions
00:02:44.020 | on the one hand and unified mindset on the other hand.
00:02:49.440 | So here, for example, in Ephesians 4, 12, and 13,
00:02:54.440 | it says, "Christ gave pastors and teachers to the church
00:03:00.240 | "to equip the saints for the work of the ministry,
00:03:03.380 | "for the building up of the body of Christ,
00:03:05.700 | "until," well, this is where it's all supposed to be moving,
00:03:09.300 | "until we all attain to the unity of the faith
00:03:14.300 | "and of the knowledge of the Son of God."
00:03:19.200 | So that's what I'm referring to when I say
00:03:22.780 | that the Bible really does urge us
00:03:25.280 | toward seeking theological, biblical unity,
00:03:30.280 | a unified understanding of God and Christ and man
00:03:34.800 | and salvation and how to live the Christian life.
00:03:38.400 | And I think the best strategy for moving toward that goal
00:03:43.400 | is to humbly and faithfully immerse ourselves in the Bible
00:03:49.480 | seeking to understand it with all the resources,
00:03:52.240 | historically, devotionally, academically, that we can.
00:03:57.240 | And then as we grow and speak and preach
00:04:01.200 | and teach and write and live that truth, as we see it,
00:04:06.200 | we pray, we pray earnestly that God would bring more
00:04:11.320 | and more people into a true understanding of His word.
00:04:16.520 | But I don't think that's what Peter is talking about
00:04:20.280 | in 1 Peter 3, 8, which is what Charlotte is asking about.
00:04:25.280 | So here in 1 Peter 3, 8,
00:04:27.840 | and in most places in the New Testament
00:04:30.120 | where being of one mind is referred to,
00:04:34.120 | the idea is not mainly to urge us
00:04:38.080 | toward identical convictions, as good as that is,
00:04:41.960 | but toward a common unified mindset or attitude.
00:04:46.960 | And here we bump into those peculiar Greek words
00:04:51.960 | that I mentioned earlier.
00:04:54.200 | There's this amazing Greek word
00:04:57.820 | that takes on lots of meanings
00:05:00.360 | when it combines with different prefixes.
00:05:04.680 | The word I'm talking about,
00:05:06.960 | for the few Greek readers who listen to us,
00:05:10.440 | the stem is phron, like phron-o or phron-es.
00:05:15.160 | And the basic idea is mindset,
00:05:19.200 | or a meaning that we don't have in English.
00:05:21.960 | We could say attitude set, not just a way of thinking,
00:05:25.640 | but a combined way of thinking and feeling
00:05:28.480 | or a combination of conviction and disposition.
00:05:32.160 | So for example, here's some of those combinations
00:05:34.840 | where you put the prefix on the front
00:05:36.600 | and it changes the meaning.
00:05:38.240 | Homophron-es, oneness of mindset.
00:05:41.960 | Topinophron-es, lowly mindset.
00:05:45.600 | Cataphron-es, contrary mindset.
00:05:48.760 | Aphron-es, foolish mindset.
00:05:51.360 | Cuperphron-es, self-exalting mindset.
00:05:54.800 | Paraphron-es, insane mindset.
00:05:58.040 | Cupsilophron-es, a haughty mindset.
00:06:00.880 | It's amazing, that word,
00:06:02.360 | with the service it does in the New Testament
00:06:05.360 | when it talks about how we think and feel.
00:06:08.200 | Now the point is simply to say that this stem,
00:06:12.040 | phron-es or phron-o, is used not mainly
00:06:16.240 | referring to ideas or viewpoints.
00:06:19.360 | It's mainly referring to particular dispositions
00:06:22.720 | or mindsets or attitudes.
00:06:25.240 | So now here we are in 1 Peter 3.8, which reads like this.
00:06:29.680 | "Finally, all of you have unity of mind."
00:06:33.880 | Homophron-es, one mindset.
00:06:36.800 | Unified, similar mindset.
00:06:39.120 | And then he goes on.
00:06:40.200 | "Sympathy, brotherly love, tender heart."
00:06:43.760 | And then he ends, "Humble mind."
00:06:46.040 | Topinophron-es.
00:06:47.600 | So homophron-es, unity of mindset at the beginning.
00:06:51.240 | Topinophron-es, humble mindset at the end.
00:06:54.360 | So Peter is giving a list of five things
00:06:58.240 | that Christians are to have.
00:07:00.280 | And the list begins with unified mindset
00:07:05.080 | and it ends with humble mindset.
00:07:08.280 | So my understanding is that the humble mindset
00:07:12.240 | defines what the unified mindset is supposed to be.
00:07:17.240 | Be unified in the humble mindset
00:07:20.400 | that all Christians should have.
00:07:22.280 | And I feel especially confirmed
00:07:25.240 | in putting those two together,
00:07:27.640 | the word at the front, the word at the back of those lists,
00:07:30.360 | because we find an amazingly similar combination of words
00:07:35.360 | in Romans 12, 16.
00:07:38.480 | The ESV says, "Live in harmony with one another."
00:07:42.160 | Now, literally, it's be of the same mindset.
00:07:46.720 | Ta'autafronuntes.
00:07:48.640 | Be of the same mindset toward each other.
00:07:51.640 | And then he explains, "Don't be haughty."
00:07:55.440 | That is, don't have a self-exalting mindset.
00:07:58.720 | Kypse lafronuntes.
00:08:00.400 | But associate with the lowly.
00:08:02.320 | Never be wise in your own sight.
00:08:05.560 | Fronimo parha atois.
00:08:08.840 | In other words, here's another way of saying
00:08:10.880 | don't have a self-exalting mindset.
00:08:13.480 | Have a humble mindset.
00:08:15.800 | Same cluster of thoughts that we had in 1 Peter 3.8.
00:08:20.160 | So the call to unity of mind
00:08:23.480 | is defined by Paul and by Peter
00:08:27.840 | as a humble mindset, not a self-exalting mindset.
00:08:32.840 | Then, probably the most important passage of all
00:08:39.080 | in the New Testament on the unity of mind or mindset
00:08:43.440 | is Philippians 2, 2 through 5.
00:08:46.480 | And it's a remarkable sequence of thought.
00:08:49.760 | It goes like this.
00:08:51.000 | Paul says, "Complete my joy,
00:08:53.200 | complete my joy by being of the same mind."
00:08:58.200 | That is, having the same mindset.
00:09:00.800 | To autofronete.
00:09:02.560 | Having the same love,
00:09:05.000 | which defines the mindset as a loving one.
00:09:07.440 | Being in full accord.
00:09:11.040 | That is, I'm with you, heart and soul.
00:09:13.800 | Sumsukhoi.
00:09:15.600 | Just like in Acts 4:32,
00:09:18.120 | where it says the church was of one heart and one soul.
00:09:23.080 | And then he says, "And of one mind."
00:09:27.640 | That is, one mindset.
00:09:29.160 | Henfronuntes.
00:09:30.840 | Now he lays out.
00:09:33.640 | So having called them to one mindset, one mindset, one love,
00:09:38.200 | he calls out the nature of the mindset in three steps.
00:09:43.200 | And this just goes right to the heart of the Christian life
00:09:46.640 | and what it means to be unified in this way.
00:09:50.760 | Number one, verse three,
00:09:53.120 | "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
00:09:57.400 | but in humility count others more significant
00:10:02.400 | than yourselves."
00:10:03.240 | I think that means count them worthy
00:10:05.080 | of your sacrificial service.
00:10:07.640 | Second, verse four,
00:10:09.320 | "Let each of you look not only to his own interests,
00:10:12.920 | but also to the interests of others."
00:10:14.960 | Third, verse five, and it's the biggest,
00:10:18.760 | "Have this mind," tuta fronete,
00:10:22.680 | "Have this mindset among yourselves,
00:10:25.880 | which is yours in Christ Jesus."
00:10:28.600 | And then he unfolds that glorious display of service
00:10:33.360 | and sacrifice and self-emptying and humility
00:10:36.480 | that Jesus did when he left his father's throne
00:10:40.120 | and became man.
00:10:42.960 | So the unity Paul and Peter are calling for in these texts,
00:10:48.000 | including 1 Peter 3, 8.
00:10:51.640 | Namely, Peter, what he's calling for
00:10:54.000 | is focused not on having the same opinions,
00:10:58.360 | though there's a level at which that really matters,
00:11:01.640 | but rather what's being stressed in these texts
00:11:04.880 | is the same mindset, the same disposition of heart,
00:11:08.160 | the same attitude,
00:11:09.520 | namely a lowly, sacrificial, servant heart for others.
00:11:15.240 | Maybe one last quick glance at Romans 14
00:11:20.240 | to draw out the difference between the way Paul handles
00:11:23.600 | when you can't agree.
00:11:25.440 | So Romans 14, there are real differences of opinion, right?
00:11:28.960 | Real differences of conviction among the Christians.
00:11:31.640 | So verse two says, "One person believes he may eat anything
00:11:36.120 | while the weak person eats only vegetables."
00:11:38.360 | They just can't get it.
00:11:39.360 | They can't get it together in Romans.
00:11:41.000 | They don't agree.
00:11:42.520 | And verse five says, "One person esteems one day
00:11:45.920 | above another while another esteems all days alike."
00:11:48.640 | They're just stuck.
00:11:49.840 | It's a disagreement and it's not going away.
00:11:53.120 | And I'm sure Paul really would prefer
00:11:55.880 | that they all agree on these things.
00:11:58.400 | That would make life a lot easier, but they don't.
00:12:01.840 | And his primary approach to that problem is not,
00:12:05.480 | at least not in Romans 14, not to get them all to agree.
00:12:10.840 | Well, what does he do?
00:12:12.880 | And I only mentioned one thing.
00:12:14.440 | He does several unusual things.
00:12:16.640 | And you need to read the whole chapter
00:12:18.040 | to see all the ways he approaches this,
00:12:20.160 | but here's goes right to the heart of the matter.
00:12:22.800 | He penetrates to a common mindset
00:12:27.800 | that knits their souls together.
00:12:31.600 | He says this, this is verse two and six.
00:12:35.480 | "The one who observes the day,
00:12:38.520 | observes it in honor of the Lord."
00:12:43.000 | The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord,
00:12:47.080 | since he gives thanks to God.
00:12:48.560 | While the one who abstains,
00:12:50.600 | abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
00:12:55.600 | In other words, he's showing them how to lay hold
00:13:00.280 | on a unified mindset of doing all to the honor of the Lord
00:13:06.320 | and not despising each other.
00:13:08.400 | That's what's gonna hold them together,
00:13:10.560 | that radical God-centeredness that puts the Lord first.
00:13:15.560 | However, you may disagree on the application.
00:13:19.640 | So my conclusion for Charlotte's question that she asked us
00:13:24.000 | is that while theological biblical unity of conviction
00:13:28.600 | is important and we should pursue it,
00:13:31.640 | as Paul and Peter did often in their writings,
00:13:34.520 | even the very existence of their writings
00:13:37.360 | is a pursuit of that kind of unity.
00:13:39.960 | Nevertheless, just as often
00:13:42.840 | as they explicitly said things about that,
00:13:45.660 | Peter and Paul press us toward unity of mindset,
00:13:50.080 | unity of attitude set or disposition or attitude
00:13:55.080 | that is marked by humility and service and sacrifice
00:14:02.120 | and a Christ-exalting motive for all we do.
00:14:07.120 | That's the unity that he's talking about
00:14:09.760 | in 1 Peter 3:8.
00:14:11.080 | - Yeah, God-centered mindset or attitude
00:14:14.760 | or dispositional unity marked by love.
00:14:18.360 | That's a humble way to shape
00:14:19.680 | this entire conversation on unity.
00:14:21.200 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:14:22.680 | And thank you for joining us today.
00:14:24.240 | Ask a question of your own, search our growing archive
00:14:26.680 | or subscribe to the podcast all at askpastorjohn.com.
00:14:31.280 | And speaking of love and unity,
00:14:33.440 | love covers a multitude of sins.
00:14:36.240 | Peter makes that point also in 1 Peter,
00:14:38.760 | a little later, a chapter later in 1 Peter 4, verse eight.
00:14:42.320 | So what does that mean when love covers a multitude of sins?
00:14:45.920 | How does that work?
00:14:46.960 | Whose sins do we cover?
00:14:49.240 | How do we cover them?
00:14:51.040 | We'll find out next time on the other side of the weekend.
00:14:54.040 | Great question coming up.
00:14:55.360 | I'm your host, Tommy Ranke,
00:14:56.520 | and we'll see you back here on Monday.
00:14:58.240 | Have a great weekend.
00:14:59.240 | (upbeat music)
00:15:01.840 | (upbeat music)
00:15:04.440 | (upbeat music)
00:15:07.040 | (Thanks for watching)