ADVANCED CHRISTIANITY
Philippians 2:1-5 NKJV
1 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Paul is still making an appeal for unity in the church and for advanced levels of behavior toward the family of God.
Starting in verse one, Paul writes about what the believers have in Christ. And it’s a short but powerful list. Consolation, or we would use the word encouragement, in Christ. Comfort of love in Christ. Fellowship of the Spirit meaning a partnership with the Holy Spirit through Jesus. And tender compassion and affection with mercy, all available to those who have believed in the Lord. We must keep in mind that these letters were written to the churches, not to the lost. So all these wonderful benefits are ours as believers, but that calls for a higher level of living. The greater the grace, mercy, and love shown to us, the more is required from us.
With all these wonderful benefits of being in Christ, believers are called to live a life of treating one another differently. Treating one another better. Because believers are loved and have been shown mercy, they are to love and show mercy to others. In the event that the church did not quite understand what Paul was saying, he spells it out for them in very practical terms.
Do not do anything out of a motive of selfish ambition or conceit. The idea here is not doing anything out of self-interest or selfishness. And not doing anything out of a desire to impress others and receive their praise. That’s simply said, but the living is far different. The world we live in operates out of selfishness, pride, and look at me. Most of us were raised in this environment, or at least we are surrounded by it day after day. Instead of trying to self-promote, our aim should be to esteem others better and treat them accordingly.
The big challenge to this is that many do not carry a good self-image to begin with. So we are trying our best to lift ourselves, much less treat others better than ourselves. But this is where we go back to all that has been done for us in Christ. The encouragement, love’s comfort, the help of the Holy Spirit, and the compassion and mercy of God toward us. The more secure we are with who we are in Christ, the better positioned we are to treat others as better than ourselves.
And Paul is not letting us off the mat. We are not to limit ourselves to self-care. We have to take on the care of others. What is in the best interests of those around us in the body of Christ? Imagine how things would operate if the body of Christ practiced these words.
Paul is still not done with Christian behavior as he encourages the believers to take on the mindset of Christ. How Jesus humbled Himself even though He was God and became obedient. The verses outlining the mindset of Jesus are stunning. What He did for us. What His mindset was. And how God exalted Him.
APPLICATION
These are challenging verses to live by. But we can not accomplish verses 2-5 until we accept what has been done for us in the first verse. We must acknowledge the riches of Christ toward us before we’ll be effective in treating others better than ourselves and abandoning the self-interest/self-promotion mindset prevalent in the world today. Remember, we are in the world but not of the world; our citizenship and family are in heaven.
PRAYER
Father, help me gain a revelation of how You see me and what You have done for me in Christ. Help me live on a higher level regarding my mindset and treatment of others.