Week 49 Philippians 2
Paul gave this advice to readers of Philippians: do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but to the interests of the others.
So…it’s a kind of double-whammy:
• Don’t be motivated by my own self-centered ambition
• Consider other people to be more valuable than I am.
It’s a potent combination and no doubt Paul anticipated the How-Do-I-Do-That? question because he went on to say that I have to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.
Then to illustrate Christ’s mindset Paul launches in on a long and fairly complicated description of how Christ voluntarily took on the role of a poor working-class man. He made himself nothing. It’s a tricky concept because it raises the technical question of what-all exactly was involved in Christ’s becoming “nothing”. How much of his divine self did he offload?
But I have to be pretty cautious. I’ve got to remember that – as important as it is that Christ made himself nothing – that’s not really Paul’s point. It’s the example illustrating the point (and the illustration can’t be bigger than the point). So a couple of bible reader’s reminders:
First: my focus has to be on The Point (which in this case is to learn humility).
Second: I have to remember that The Illustration is there to illustrate (no matter how elaborate it is).
Note: quotes from Philippians 2:3-4 5 7 (NIV). And see the whole passage 2:3-11.