"If there is any consolation in Christ..."
Text: Philippians 2:1
THE CONCEPT OF A COMMUNITY
It was the Lord Jesus Christ who said that He would build and establish the church. This was an entirely new idea when He first broached the subject (Matthew 16:18). The Disciples of Jesus had no clear ideas as to how this word would be fulfilled.
1. There was the Temple community
a) The Disciples were familiar with the idea of a Temple community.
b) The scribes, the chief priests, the Sadducees, the Pharisees formed the Sanhedrin Council and they ruled the Temple.
2. There was the Synagogue community
a) The Disciples were also familiar with this idea.
b) Local synagogues abounded and they catered to people living in a geographical community.
3. How would the Church community come about?
a) The Disciples were not sure what Jesus meant when He said that He would build the Church.
b) Jesus promised that the church would be so strong that the gates of Hades would not be able to prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CHURCH
The first local church commenced in Jerusalem. The inaugural membership was just 120 people and they were led by the apostles of Christ. The church began on a very strong note and there was such a powerful sense of unity in the new church community (Acts 2:44-47).
PROBLEMS CONFRONTING THE CHURCH
Before too long, the Church began to face many different problems.
1. From without
a) Persecution arose.
b) Great suffering had to be endured.
2. From within
a) There were false brethren.
b) False teachers arose to lure the weak and untaught.
A SPECIAL TASK OF THE APOSTLES
The apostles of Christ found that they had to tackle a new and additional problem. They had to attempt to keep the Unity of the Church community. The apostle wrote strongly in his epistles urging the churches to forge a powerful sense of oneness in the community.
The Philippian Church was not spared from the danger of becoming fractious. Paul had to use every means available to appeal to the church to keep working hard at being a church community that was soundly and solidly united. It was on this note of encouraging Unity that Paul began writing the second chapter of his epistle to the Philippians.