Philippians 2:1-4 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Do you and your friends have the same views and beliefs? What about the members of your church? Paul encourages believers to be like-minded, loving one another, and being one in mind and spirit. But how do we do that when people have differing views? We do it by checking our attitude and making the choice to put aside ourselves and our needs to focus on loving and uniting with others.
The first thing Paul says in this selection of verses points to Christ. If we have any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in His love, if we are sharing in the Spirit and have compassion and tenderness, then we have an example of how we should choose to live. We have a perfect model that can guide us toward unity with our fellow believers and friends.
Our choice to follow His example helps us to adopt an attitude of unselfish humility. In the early church to which Paul writes we see that we need to first be united with Christ before we can start to unite with others. Our vertical attitude (the attitude towards God) is necessary before we can develop our horizontal attitude (one with other believers). To have the right attitude with others we must first have the right attitude with God, which we know is happening when we have encouragement or exhortation from Him.
Paul goes on to tell us to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Earlier in the book of Philippians we see it mentioned that the motives of some of the people preaching Christ had the wrong attitudes and were working from a place of selfishness (Philippians 1:16). Doing so shows immaturity in the people seeking gain from their actions and words. Paul didn’t want to see division in the community of Philippi.
The final verse in this selection begins with “in humility.” The Bible tells us we should humble ourselves before God (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6) while this verse says to value others above ourselves as we see to the needs of others. Humility has never been a virtue except for when a believer acts in it. It has always been viewed as weakness. Luckily we have the promise from God that in our weakness, He is our strength (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). It is not weakness to look to the interests of others, but it is not a popular belief system in the world.
Today let’s take some time to evaluate our hearts and minds. Make the choice to be humble. Choose to value others over yourself. Do nothing from a place of selfishness and conceit. Follow the example Christ has given us. And then watch lives be transformed as we come together as one body.
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