LIVING AN ‘OTHERS’ LIFE
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 15, 2025 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: January 15, 2025 from Philippians 2:1-4
Theme: To live a life of prioritizing others in the church family is ‘conduct worthy of Christ’.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Philippians is a letter about joy. The apostle Paul was its human author; and in respect to the trials he endured for the spread of the gospel, we’d have to say that he stood out as one of the most joyful men in history. In this letter, he explained to his fellow Christians in the ancient city of Philippi how they—together—could experience the joy that he had in the Lord Jesus.
But Paul didn’t simply write a ‘positive thinking’ manual. Throughout this letter, we see that the pathway to true joy took hard work. It required a sacrifice of self, and a whole-hearted submission to the power and enablement that comes through a relationship with Someone else. Paul shared the secret of his joy with his readers when, near the end of the letter, he declared;
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).
Jesus Christ—and a relationship of dependency upon Him—is key to true, lasting, enduring joy. And as the first half of Philippians 2 shows us, that means dependency upon a divine Person who was sacrificial in His focus on others. Once, when His disciples were all fighting with one another over which of them was the greatest, Jesus called them to Himself and said;
“You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44).
And why was this so? He went on to tell them;
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (v. 45).
To follow Jesus is to follow the greatest example of a focus on ‘others’ that has ever been displayed in all the universe. No one else ever descended from such heights of glory as He did in order to walk among others in such lowliness … and all so that they may be raised up with Him and share eternally in His majesty. Jesus is the most glorious example of concern for ‘others’ that can be known. And so; if a church of His redeemed people would truly follow Him and live for Him as He would want, they must have the ‘others’ focus that He exhibited. And, as it turns out, that Christ-like ‘others’ focus is the pathway to experiencing overcoming joy in the trials of life.
This, then, brings us to Paul’s words at the beginning of Chapter 2. While he was sitting in a Roman prison cell for preaching the gospel, he wrote to the Philippian believers and told them;
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. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:1-4).
As these words show us, to live a life of prioritizing others in the church family is ‘conduct worthy of Christ’; which … as it so happens … is also key to experiencing Christ’s own joy.
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Now; notice how Paul began. In most translations, this passage is introduced by the word “Therefore …” Not all translations begin the passage with this word; but it’s nevertheless present in the original language of Paul’s letter. And its purpose is to point our attention backward to what he had said in 1:27-30. There—after explaining his own bright outlook in Christ even in the face of possible execution for his faith—he wrote;
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, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me (1:27-30).
In his absence from those fellow believers, he wanted to make sure they had the same kind of attitude he had in his own time of suffering. And how he wanted to see that attitude expressed and put into action through a deep-seated unity in the church family. As he stressed in verse 27, he wanted to hear of their ‘affairs’; that they ‘stood fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel’. It was his desire for this kind of unity that led him to write the words of our passage this morning. It was intended to show forth the consequence of what he wrote in the previous passage—particularly in verse 27: “Therefore,” they were to actively live a life of unity through a Christ-like ‘others’ focus.
But he doesn’t just tell them to do this and leave them hanging in uncertainty as to how to go about it. In 2:1, he shows them the spiritual provisions that had been given to them by God for living an ‘others’ life, and in verses 2-4, he spells out the kind of ongoing practices that would characterize such a life.
So; let’s first look at what he wrote about …
1. THE FUNDAMENTAL PROVISIONS FOR AN ‘OTHERS’ LIFE (v. 1).
In verse 1, he wrote; “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy …” And here, we find four specific, spiritual provisions that had been given to them by God. They are each introduced with the conditional word “if”; but not in such a way as to suggest any doubt about provisions. Rather, these are conditional phrases that assume the truth of the thing being said. It’s as if he was saying that since the following fundamental provisions have already been made—if, in fact, any of these things have already been given to us … and they most certainly have—then the practice of focusing on others should naturally follow.
First, Paul mentions our consolation in Christ. The word Paul used can be translated as “comfort” or “encouragement”. It’d be as if he was asking his readers, “Have you ever received comfort and consolation from Christ? Have you been comforted by the fact that your sins are forgiven by God the Father through Him? In some of your deepest trials, have you felt Him draw near to you—to encourage and uplift and strengthen you? If so, then you have that in common with your brothers and sisters in Christ.” And this gives us a powerful foundation for a focus on one another. As it says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5—using this same word for ‘consolation’:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).
Second, he writes of our comfort of love. It’s a profoundly comforting thing to know that God the Father loves us as His own children—and that He will never cease loving us! There was a time when Jesus told His disciples that they didn’t have to ask Him to pray on their behalf to the Father. Because of what He was about to do for them on the cross, they could go to the Father directly and ask for anything they needed—just as He Himself did;
“. . . for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (John 16:27).
If I am someone who’s deeply loved by God the Father through Jesus His Son, and you also are someone who is just as deeply loved by God the Father through Jesus His Son, then we both share something very wonderful and very satisfying in common! We both share the comfort of God the Father’s immeasurable love! This gives us a great reason to love one another!
A third foundational provision that Paul mentioned is our fellowship of the Spirit. The Spirit that Paul is describing is the Holy Spirit—the third Person of the Trinity—who, in the mystery of His being, dwells with all His fullness in each individual believer. One believer doesn’t have ‘more’ of the Person of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them than another believer. And if one believer is totally yielded to the Holy Spirit, and another believer is totally yielded to the Holy Spirit, then they are both yielded to the influence and guidance and enabling power of the same divine Person; for as it says in Ephesians 4:4, we are united in “one Spirit”.
This can’t help but create an ‘others’ focus in us. As Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22-26;
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another (Galatians 5:22-26).
And fourth, Paul mentioned our experience of God’s affection and mercy; or as the New International Version has it, “tenderness and compassion”. As broken sinners, we are each in continual need of God’s grace—both because of our sins in the past and our failures in the present. And praise Him!—we receive that grace continually from a compassionate and gracious heavenly Father! That’s something that we all have in common. We may at times forget this … and may sometimes end up thinking that we’re better than one another. But remembering how sinful we have been before God, and how much we all need God’s affection and mercy, serves as a reaffirmation of our fundamental unity in Christ.
I have no right to think that I’m better than another believer; and another believer has no right to think that they are better than me. We both are utterly unworthy sinners, and we both are equally undeserving recipients of God’s abundant affection and mercy through Jesus Christ. What Romans 5:8 says applies equally to us all of us as believers:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
So; these four foundational provisions from God—the consolation in Christ, the comfort of God’s love, the fellowship of the Spirit, and the gift of God’s affection and mercy—serve as the basis for a genuine focus on others.
And with that in mind, Paul then goes on to show us …
2. THE ONGOING PRACTICES OF AN ‘OTHER’S FOCUS (vv. 2-4).
Based on those fundamental provisions, what are we to seek to do? Paul goes on to mention three things. First he calls us to pursue a unity of mind. In verse 2, he wrote, “fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” We’re to be “like” each other in our love, because we all love the same Lord Jesus first of all; “like” each other in our sense of purpose, because we don’t have any different agenda for each other than what God wants for us; and “of one mind” in that we see ourselves as a body—and think habitually in terms of “we” and “us” instead of “me” and “myself”.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t, at times, have disagreements in some of the ways we understand what the Bible teaches or how to apply what He says. Nor does this mean that we lose our individual identities and become indistinguishable replicas of one another. It simply means that we’re willing to put up with the trivial differences between each other; because in the most fundamental basics—in the things that truly matter—we are of one mind. Again, as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:27,
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 … (Philippians 1:27).
Second, Paul wrote that we’re to pursue a humbleness of spirit. He wrote in verse 3, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” He first puts this in terms of a negative action—that is, to let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. We’re to cease having any selfish agendas with each other, or separating ourselves from one another on the basis of lesser matters. But it’s not that we’re to end up doing nothing at all. The next part of the command requires a positive action—that is that, we, in lowliness of mind, are to esteem one another as better than ourselves—and to look upon one another’s needs as more important than our own.
That, of course, feels contrary to our fallen human nature. But isn’t it exactly what our Lord did for us? As Paul wrote in Romans 15:1-3;
We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me” (Romans 15:1-3).
And that leads us to the final action we’re to pursue; and that’s a mutuality of care. In verse four, Paul wrote, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Paul, of course, didn’t say that we’re to neglect our own needs; nor did he suggest that we’re to look out for each others’ interests instead of our own. It’s assumed that we’d take responsibility for our own matters. But we’re not to be thinking about our own matters only! We’re to intentionally have each other’s concerns also in mind and take each other into account by meeting one another’s needs.
This is something that will require the Holy Spirit’s help. It’s not so much that we deliberately choose to disregard the needs of others as it is that we fail to notice them. But we can praise God that the Holy Spirit works in and through the church to help us to see the needs of one another. As Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2,
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
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So; because of the spiritual provisions that we enjoy in Christ—the wonderful things we have in common by God’s grace to us—we can behave accordingly. We grow in an ‘others’ focus by pursuing a unity of mind with each other, by relating to each other in a humbleness of spirit, and by serving each other with a sense of mutual care for one another’s needs.
This is what it means to live in a manner worthy of Christ. This is what Jesus gave Himself in order to bring about in us. As Paul goes on to say—right after the words of our passage;
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 of 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 (Philippians 2:5-11).
AE
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