We're studying the book of Philippians, and we've come to chapter 2, verse 5. This is really an amazing and profound text in the course of our studies here this morning. It's a passage of deep theological content, one we could spend endless time plumbing the depths of, but first and foremost, it's an illustration. 

This is how we're going to approach this text, to take it for its intent and meaning in the context in this section of Scripture, that Jesus is an illustration for us of humility and what it means to have unity in His desire to fulfill the will of God. Paul has been imploring the believers in Philippi to be one, to express unity in the gospel and the faith, to have one mind and one purpose, as he puts it, to have the mind of Christ. 

This is the great desire of God; it's the great desire of Christ and the Holy Spirit and even of Paul for the church, that there would be unity. In the end of chapter 1 and through chapter 2, we are learning the way of unity in the church. We discussed last week that doctrine underlies unity; we must have a clear understanding of the Word of God, of doctrine. We must have a passion for the truth, to know Jesus more and more through His Word, through the truth. 

Unity is built on doctrine, but doctrine is not the primary issue in the church that destroys unity. Doctrine was not at issue in the Philippian church, as we see from this letter, which mentions no doctoral correction or dispute. And I don't believe that doctrine is in the mind of Paul in the section that we're studying. Rather, it is attitude. It is a mindset that Paul is addressing. 

It's the matter of self-importance, selfish ambition, a desire to protect and hold on to one's own rights or one's own preferences within the body among believers that most often is the cause of disunity or conflict. In Philippians 1.27, Paul introduced this idea. He said, "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." 

In 2.1, we saw last week, "Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." This is a call to unity in the faith, in the gospel. This is the exhortation at hand. 

We learn that this unity can only be a reality when we exercise humility, when we lay aside our own prerogatives, desires, rights, and preferences, and focus on Jesus and His will and His purpose for us, striving together for one single solitary goal: to glorify Him, to further the gospel, to love God and love men, and this means humility. 

Our passion must ever be kindled to do the will of God, to serve Him and seek His plan and purpose for our lives, and this is an agonizing, Paul says, a striving against the sin of selfishness and worldly, earthly focus, against the influence of the mindset of the philosophy of man in this world— to always look out for number one, to never make yourself vulnerable, to always guard your own interests even at the expense of others. 

This is all around us in the world. It seems to me it used to be somewhat more subtle. When I was young, there was a pretense of virtue among religious men, but now it's wide open. The psychology gurus pound the drum of a need for self-love. They say this is your problem: you don’t love yourself enough. I need to love myself more. Jesus said the opposite, and the Scriptures presume no lack of self-love but instruct us to focus on loving others. 

In the world of business or our social activities or hobbies, there's always competition, a raising up of oneself, usually by the tearing down of others, and gossip, and backbiting, maneuvering, and manipulating. Even in advertising, we’re told, “You deserve this.” “Have it your way.” Everything is focused on you. 

The appeal to sin that dwells in every man, to selfishness and self-preservation, is constant in our world. And the call here in our text is to pursue the opposite: to lay aside our rights, our selfish desires, our own interests, and to serve one another, to look out for the needs of others, and seek their interests above our own. 

First and foremost, to have the purpose and passion of our life be the purpose and passion of God, of Christ, and His gospel, and His glory. In this, we can find unity. Unity can only be truly accomplished in the body of the church among believers when we have the mind of Christ, and we're going to see what that means in our text this morning. 

It's not going to be a study so much of theology, the depths of the meaning of the words in our text, although we must touch on these things as we go, but Jesus, here, is meant to serve as an example, an illustration of unity, of humility, of the mind, the attitude that God wants for each one of us. 

So let's look at our text, Philippians 2, 5. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 

Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

I've given you five points on your outline this morning: first, the mind of Christ; second, the form of God; third, He emptied Himself; fourth, He gave Himself; and fifth, exaltation and ultimate submission. 

Well, first, we see in our text the mind of Christ. In verse 1 again, he says, "Because there is consolation in Christ, because there's comfort in His love, because there's fellowship in the Spirit, and because there's affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." 

Again, the call is to unity in the church, and the issue is not doctrine here, but mind, attitude, and common purpose, and the means to unity is humility. Humility is a bad word in our culture, often equated with weakness. The humble do not get ahead in our world, but the reality is that Jesus was the ultimate example of humility. 

Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus teaching on humility with this truth: he who exalts himself will be humbled by God, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. God values a heart and mind of service. Jesus said the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. 

We find this promise in James and Peter as well. James 4.10: "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up." First Peter 5.6: "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time." 

This mind of service, this heart of humility is a gift given to us by God, a desire planted in our hearts, poured out into our hearts in the form of the love of God given by the Holy Spirit. It is our heart and our desire as born-again believers in Jesus Christ, and the key is a focus on heavenly things, on the ultimate reward that will come in glorification and in eternity, and eternal things now— things that matter, things that last, like the salvation of souls, the glory of God, the encouragement and well-being of the brethren, the needs of others, and our privilege to participate in meeting those needs— those eternal and spiritual needs as well as temporal and physical needs. 

Humble yourself, that is, lay aside your rights, your prerogatives, your own temporal interests and selfish mindset, and seek the eternal good and glory of God and men by a mind of service and sacrifice. This is the mind of Christ. This is the example, the illustration we see in His incarnation, death and resurrection, and return to glory. 

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. 

So next we see in our text the form of God, and this is so rich that it's going to take us a little time and energy to unpack it. When we think of form, we think of shape in our minds. Remember the old cartoons, the Wonder Twins? Some of you will get that. The Wonder Twins— remember that? No? 

All right. Maybe no one will get it. But they would say, "Wonder Twin powers activate," remember that? And then they would take a form— form of a well and shape of an eagle or whatever— go off and save the world. They would outwardly take on that shape, and that's how we think of the word form, as a shape, but that's not what's meant here at all by this word. 

Vincent gives us this comment. He says, “We must here dismiss from our minds the idea of shape. The word is used in its philosophical sense to denote that expression of being which carries in itself the distinctive nature and character of the being to whom it pertains and is thus permanently identified with that nature and character.” 

He says, “As applied to God, the word is intended to describe that mode in which the essential being of God expresses itself.” The best way to understand this, and it's vital for our understanding in our text, is the expression—the outward expression of the inner nature or reality of being. 

Paul here explains to us that Jesus is God, and before the incarnation, His outward expression was of His inner essence, the reality of who He is in glory. The point is that in glory, before His condescension, His incarnation, He outwardly expressed His deity, and this expression proves this truth of who He is, that He is God. If your outward expression is that of the inward reality of deity, then you must have an inward reality of deity, and thus be God. 

The emphasis of the text is found in these key phrases. He says, “who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.” 

What does it mean that He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God? Well, first, the word consider is a word that means a judgment based on facts. Now I want you to give me your attention here, but put on your thinking caps; clear your mind because this is important. It’s been rightly stated that the wording here refers to the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, emptying Himself, okay? But the question is, what did He empty Himself of? 

Some have taught that He emptied Himself of deity, of His divine character, but the very words we've seen in these verses emphasize that He is, in His very nature, God—pre-incarnate, God in His incarnation, God in His condescension as a man, and at the very time of the writing of this letter in His exaltation—fully God, not laying aside His divine nature. 

Rather, emptying refers to the laying aside of the outward expression of that divine nature. Do you follow me? I'll quote from Least here again. “Equality with God does not refer here to the equality of the Lord Jesus with the other persons of the Trinity, nor does it refer to His equality with them in the possession of the divine nature. Possession of the divine essence is not spoken of here, but the expression of the divine essence is referred to.” 

So equality with God here refers to our Lord's co-participation with the other members of the Trinity in the expression of that divine essence. We're going to get to the transfiguration here in a minute, but think about the transfiguration when Jesus pulled back His flesh. What did He do? He expressed who He truly was on the inside. He showed them His glory. 

This is a very important point because when we come to consider the fact that our Lord laid aside something, we'll see that it was not the possession but the expression of divine essence. Did you follow that? His laying aside—His emptying of Himself—is not a laying aside of His deity; incarnate, He is fully God, but it was a laying aside of the expression of His divine attributes, the essence of who He is. 

Now we see this illustrated in the transfiguration, but first, we need to complete our thought on the word robbery. The Greek word translated robbery has two distinct meanings. One, it can mean a thing unlawfully seized—to take something that's not yours. Or second, it can mean a treasure that should be clutched and retained or held on to. So the context here decides the meaning. 

If we take the first definition, a taking of something that's not yours, if our Lord did not consider it a thing to be unlawfully seized to be equal with God in the expression of His divine essence, then what it would be doing is asserting His right to that expression. He would be declaring His rightful ownership of that prerogative. 

The interpretation would be that this expression is conveying His deity and His right to express that deity. The problem is that this is contrary to the context and the intent. Remember, this is an illustration by the condensation of Jesus—the laying aside of His right to express the divine nature and to hold on to all the rights and prerogatives of that expression. 

This is a perfect example of humility leading to unity. So this meaning that He has the right to hold on to that expression of deity is not right in this context. The other meaning fits much better— a treasure to be held on to or clutched or retained. And we see the negative here: it says He did not think equality with God in the divine expression something to be clutched or held on to at all costs. 

Instead, what did He do? He made Himself of no reputation. Instead of asserting His rights to the expression of the essence of deity, our Lord waived His rights to that expression. He did not consider the exercise of that expression such a treasure that it would keep Him from setting that expression aside and making Himself of no reputation. 

The words “made Himself of no reputation” are the translation of two Greek words which literally translated mean “emptied Himself,” and that's where we get that idea that He emptied Himself. So what we are seeing here in the example of Christ is a submission to the will of God, a willingness to submit Himself to the plan and purpose of God first and foremost, and this necessarily meant a laying aside or emptying Himself of the expression of the divine nature and rather taking on the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. 

When He was on earth, what was His outward expression? He was in the likeness of men, right? I mean, everyone who looked at Him thought He was a man—just an ordinary man. So His outward expression was that, or the form, is that of a man. The word form is from the same Greek word that we studied in verse 6; the word servant is the translation of the Greek word which Paul used in 1.1, that of a bondslave. 

So the Greek grammar here demands that the act of taking precede the emptying of Himself. He took on a form of a man and He emptied Himself. In other words, He took on the likeness of man; the form of a bondservant before or in the process of emptying Himself. In verse 6, He was in His pre-incarnate state expressing Himself as deity. He was in glory, in heaven, with God. In verse 7, He expresses Himself in incarnation as a bondslave. Both of these are consistent with and an expression of His inner nature. 

He's God, and He's fully man. Now let's go back to the transfiguration. In Matthew 17.1, you guys are familiar with this. It says, “Now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, His brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.” 

So here we see the opposite of what we see in our text. In our text, Paul is highlighting the humility of Christ in that He laid aside the expression of His deity, the outward expression of that inner essence and glory. He chose, rather, to come in the form of a bondservant in the likeness of men. 

In Matthew 17, He is as a man, appearing as a man, right? And He pulls back His flesh, as it were, that outer expression of humanity, and He expresses the inner deity which He still possesses. And He shone, right, like the light. So the words that we're studying here, the idea being illustrated— all that to say this—is that Jesus had the right to express His deity outwardly. 

And He did that in glory, pre-incarnate. But in taking the outward form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of man, He laid aside that expression and expressed the inner nature of humanness, His humanity coming in the likeness of a man. 

Let me give you an illustration—this idea of this word form. When we think of basketball, everybody think of basketball, okay? One name comes to mind: what name? Michael Jordan, right? So when we think of basketball, we think of Michael Jordan. 

We could say that Jordan, in his playing of the game of basketball, was the very expression, the form of the sport. That doesn't mean His outward shape, right? It means He exhibited the essence of basketball when He played. He expressed in His play the very essence of the game. That's the idea here. 

Both expressions came from our Lord's nature, His act of glorifying Himself and His act of humbling Himself. Both are consistent elements of the essence possessed by the triune God. The words “took upon Him the form of a servant” do not refer to His assumption of human nature without its sin but to His expression of Himself as a bondslave. 

So now He's coming in the likeness of men. His humanity was the necessary means through which He would express Himself as a servant of mankind. He was made in the likeness of man. Wiest again says the words “was made” are the translation of a word meaning to become. And the tense of this verb is ingressive aorist, which signifies entrance into a new state. 

So in other words, He became something new. Our Lord entered into a new state of being when He became a man. But His becoming man did not exclude His possession of deity. He was and is today, in His nature, that of absolute deity and of humanity. This is the mystery. Jesus is fully God and fully man. 

In glory, we see the outward expression of deity, and in the incarnation, the outward expression of the likeness of man. So we see in our text the mind of Christ, we see the form of God, we see that He emptied Himself, and the real example of Christ is this: He gave Himself. 

Philippians 2.8 says, "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." We've seen twice in our text the word form, and I've noted that this word refers to an expression that comes from within, the true inner nature being expressed outwardly. 

But in verse 8, we see the word translated appearance speaks only of the outward. Here the word refers to the outward appearance, only the external, and the point here is that to men, He appeared outwardly in all ways to be a man. There's nothing comely about Him, right? People didn't look at Him as He walked down the street and say, "Well, this is God." 

Now when He did His works, those who were willing said, "This is God" or "He's from God," but in His outward appearance, He was a normal man. The word humbled means to make or bring low. Here the self-humbling is the act of our Lord as the Son of Man; it was the humiliation of the death of the cross. 

He gave Himself. This is the ultimate act of humility of service, for there's no greater love than this than a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus gave Himself for us, and in this, He fully submitted Himself to the will of God. Here we find the example, the illustration of how we find unity in the church. 

In 1 Peter 2, let's turn over to 1 Peter 2, verse 21. Peter describes this as well—talking about suffering and suffering unjustly in the context. In 2.21, he says, "For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we having died to sins might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed." 

For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. The key phrase is, "He committed Himself to the one who judges righteously." He laid aside the expression of His deity and glory. He chose not to exercise His divine prerogatives. 

He humbled Himself, taking on the form of a man, even a bond slave. He submitted Himself in perfect obedience to the will of the Father to accomplish our salvation on the cross. In Romans 5, 6, it says, "When we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He gave Himself for us. He demonstrated the greatest love, the greatest self-sacrifice, the greatest example of esteeming others' needs above His own, and humbling Himself in the cross. 

He gave us the greatest example of setting our minds on eternal things, on entrusting ourselves to God, looking to Him, depending on Him, and submitting ourselves and our lives to His will. This is the very thing that Paul is calling us to do in the church: to follow His example. As Peter says, to follow His steps, to have His mind—this mind which was in Christ Jesus. 

In Colossians 3, it says, "Since you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." 

Listen to this promise: when Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. First Peter 1.13: "Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, pull it all together, bring in all those thoughts, cinch it up. Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober. And what? Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Bobby and I drove through Mercy this morning, and I was interested in the church signs because they sometimes tell so much about the theology in those buildings. One said, "Hope is hanging on one day at a time." I thought, "Wow! I don't think that's right." Hope is a confident assurance—faith, right? 

We believe in what we hope for produces a firm conviction. Set your hope, Peter says, fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I don't have any doubt about that; I don't have any doubt that He's going to come. I don’t have any doubt that He's going to fulfill His promises. 

My hope is a confident assurance. I'm not hanging on one day at a time. I'm hoping. I'm going to rest my hope fully upon the grace that will be revealed to you when He comes. There is the promise of glory, of exaltation, and we see this promise in the example of Christ as well. 

Verse 9, Philippians 2, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." 

Here we see exaltation and ultimate submission. Notice the word therefore—because of His humility, because of His laying aside of His glory in heaven, God exalted Him. I want to show you just one more passage on this, one that perhaps will be helpful for us to understand. 

Turn to Hebrews 12, verse 1. Hebrews 12. This follows the faith chapter of Hebrews 11 in the context of Hebrews, where the author is exhorting them to go on to faith in Christ and enter the new covenant, and he shows them that salvation has always been by faith. 

So ending all those examples of chapter 11, he says in 12.1, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

These verses are an exhortation to application of the truth that we enter salvation by faith, that we live by faith, as the author gave so many examples in chapter 11. The just shall live by faith. He implores those Hebrews who had not yet gone on to faith to lay aside the sin of unbelief, chief, and enter this race of faith, looking off and away from everything else and only to Jesus. 

The words in verse 2 are so interesting, and I think often misunderstood, but they're absolutely parallel to the text we're studying this morning. Here Jesus is given as the ultimate example of the principle of faith. He is the archegos—not the author, as translated here, as we think of an author—but it's a chief leader, a pioneer, the premier example. 

He's the archegos of faith. And then finisher is teleos; it means to take something to its end. Jesus is the premier example of faith, and He has taken the principle of faith to its full end. How did He do this? It says in verse 2, "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

Now we often see this as Jesus looking to a reward after the cross, right? Who for the joy that was set before Him, He chose to endure the cross. But this is not what the text says. The word translated for—“for the joy”—is the Greek ante, and it literally means against or in place of. 

So it should be translated here instead of. We could translate it this way: instead of the joy—or as we see in our text in Philippians, instead of holding on to the glory—the joy that He already had, rather humbled Himself and endured the cross. 

The text is saying the very same thing—that Jesus is the ultimate example of faith because He chose willingly to lay aside or let go of the glory He already possessed and humbled Himself to become a man and die on the cross. Because of this, God has exalted Him; He has sat down at the right hand of God. He is on His throne, exalted back to His rightful place in glory. 

Turn to John 17; let's look at Jesus' high priestly prayer the night before He goes to the cross. John 17.1: "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You. As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." 

"I have glorified You on the earth, I have finished the work which You have given Me to do." Look at verse 5: "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." 

Here Jesus is coming to the cross, and He's praying to the Father, and He prays, “Restore Me to the glory I had before the incarnation, together with Yourself, the glory of God that I had since before the world was.” 

This is exactly what God did. The Father answered this perfect prayer and raised Jesus from the dead, showing Him to be the Son of God, declaring Him with power, Romans 1.4 says, and He has exalted Him, seated Him on His throne at God's right hand. 

Now He's waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. He was restored to the glory; He's now expressing outwardly in heaven at the right hand of God that inner deity—the essence of who He is. He will come in judgment the second time, and we see a picture of that glory in Revelation 1. 

Now if you turn to Revelation 19, we'll see when He comes in judgment. Revelation 19.11: "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself." 

"He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron." 

"He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords." 

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both great and small.” 

And I saw the beasts, the kings of the earth, and their armies gather together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. 

These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. 

Every knee will bow. Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. I know most of us here have bowed our knee and praised God and thanked Him for our salvation. But my friend, if you've not bowed your knee to the Lord of the universe in faith, why not do that now? You will do it. 

But how much better now, in faith, in His one-time death in our place for our sins, and to receive salvation and the promise of eternal life. For if you wait, if you do not believe Jesus, then when He comes in judgment, your knee will bow; your tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

But you will spend eternity in the lake of fire when the Lord comes and sits on His great white throne in judgment. Salvation is available now by faith in Jesus alone. What a gift that God offers to us if we'll just look to Jesus, believe Him, and trust in Him alone. 

What a love He has shown us. What an example of humility He is to us. What Paul's trying to teach us in this text is that that mind, that attitude, is the key to unity in the church. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, Your truth, and the Holy Spirit who guides us and teaches us. Thank You for the promise of salvation. Thank You for the truth of Your coming. Thank You for the truth that Jesus, now having been raised from the dead, exalted, ascended to heaven, now sits at Your right hand. 

Thank You that He will come in glory. Thank You that we will come with Him. Lord, we look forward to these things. We set our hope fully in the grace that will be revealed to us when He comes. But in this time, help us to have His mind, to trust You fully, to entrust ourselves to You, and know that You judge righteously. 

Help us to have the mind of Christ so that we might have unity in the church and be faithful, bring people to Christ, encourage one another, and ultimately bring glory to You. In Jesus' name, amen.