Philippians 2:1-8

1 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, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

The last step in finding joy in our relationships through reducing conflict and increased cooperation has to do with developing the:

• Character of Christ

As Paul encouraged the Philippian church to be unified he reminded them that it was only possible to have peace by having the mind of Christ. But what is the mind of Christ? As Paul uses that word “mind” throughout the first two chapters of Philippians he is not using it like we typically would. When we use the word mind, we usually refer to some sort of mental exercise. But the way Paul uses it reveals something much deeper. It includes not only our conscious thoughts but our collective attitudes and actions as well. Paul is dealing with our demeanor, and the way we live life. Which includes both our internal thoughts and attitudes as well as our external actions. It involves how we think, feel, and act. Paul doesn’t just want us to see the mind of Christ, he wants us to have the mind of Christ. Paul is saying that we need to fix our attitudes, actions and mindsets on Jesus, which sounds good in theory but what does it mean in our day-to-day lives? It means that Jesus is our model, and our example. This is more than just what would Jesus do, its what if we would be Jesus. This is about developing the kind of mind that it took for the Son of God to step out of eternity and into time. I want you to take a trip with me that will involve every bit of your imagination and wonder. I want you to journey with me to His home in heaven. No not the home of harps that we have painted for people but the royal eternal dwelling place of God Almighty. Revelation 21 describes the breathtaking beauty, streets of gold, twelve gates made of one pearl a piece, foundations and walls constructed of every gemstone imaginable. But the beauty isn’t in the buildings, you see even the most beautiful, costly and rare precious materials we can experience here on earth are common compared to the real, true, precious beauty we will experience there. What if fascinating is that the most precious thing you can imagine here on earth will barely be noticed there because we will be in the presence of true beauty. We will be in the presence of the triune God. Revelation 21:23 says “And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light” Picture the most beautiful scene that you can, now imagine that scene so overwhelmed by the glory and beauty of God that it’s just a background, barley even noticeable. The song turn your eyes upon Jesus says it best, “the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” This is what Jesus gave up, the riches and the relationship to come and redeem us.  Jesus was willing to let it all go so that I could have God.  It’s the complete opposite of what Satan said, “I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:14. Out of his pride, he tried to grasp something that wasn’t his, yet Jesus out of His humility let go and gave up what was rightfully His and His alone. He made Himself nothing, which literally means that He emptied Himself.  Jesus willingly chose to empty himself of His position in Heaven. He willingly chose to empty Himself of His dwelling place in the glory of God. He willingly chose to empty Himself of His completely intimate relationship. As God in the flesh, He willingly chose to limit His divine attributes. He limited His omnipresence; He was not everywhere at once. He limited His omnipotence, He became tired and hungry living in the limits and boundaries of a body of flesh. He chose to make Himself of no reputation, leaving His rightful place in Heaven and taking up residence in a dirty weary world. He traded a throne for a trough; He was willing to be stripped of His glory trading it for scraps of cloth. He traded power for poverty. He traded His omnipotence for the utter helplessness of a baby. He traded His omniscience for the mind of a baby. He traded his omnipresence for being moved only when someone picked Him up. The One who spoke the universe into existence had to learn how to talk. The One who fills everything with His presence had to learn how to walk. Jesus didn’t selfishly grasp onto His place and position of power. If you want to know how to get along with people, even those who are hard to get along with don’t just look to the example of Jesus live it. You see Jesus had a servant’s attitude, do you? How do you know if you have a serving attitude? Well how do you respond when people treat you like a servant? Do you get up-tight and demand your rights or do you serve? Jesus was willing to sacrifice Himself for others, are you, do you? Most of us spend our time grasping and grabbing instead of giving, no wonder our relationships are so worn. We love John 3:16 but do we live 1 John 3:16 “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters” You see Jesus did everything that He did for one purpose. He willingly left His glorious place in Heaven for one reason. He emptied Himself and became a man for one reason. Was it to die, ultimately yes, but it was so much more, because if death was the only thing He could have shown up on the day of His crucifixion. Yes, Jesus humbled Himself and died on the cross and this is very important, but it’s not the focus of the verse. The focus of the verse is why He humbled Himself, why He went to the cross. He did it because He was obedient to the will of the Father. Jesus humbled the will of His humanity and subjected it to the will of the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed “Father, not my will but yours be done.” Jesus served out of submission and obedience to the Father. The truth is we are afraid of serving because we are fearful that we will become servants, and that we will no longer be in control. So we limit our obedience to serving without sacrifice, to serving without being a servant. Why don’t we submit to His Will? Because we are afraid that we will become door mats and others will wipe their feet on the face of our obedience. So we have settled for service without servant hood, observation of obedience instead of complete compliance. The real issue is we don’t let go of control because we don’t trust Christ. You see to have the mind of Christ means to want the Will of the Father. What does He want He wants us to stop grasping and start giving. What if this year you shared the greatest present of all the character of Christ? What if you replaced the strife with serving? What if you allowed His peace to penetrate your personal relationships? Will you allow Christ to take control of your mind, attitudes and actions? Whose will do you want?

Philippians 2:1-8

1 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, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

In Philippians chapter 2 Paul gave the Philippians several practical steps to finding joy in their relationships through reduced conflict and increased cooperation. The first step we discovered in reducing conflict was to stop having selfish ambitions and the second is to stop being:

• Self-Absorbed

Verse three says “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit” Conceit is an excessively favorable opinion of one’s own importance. So let me ask you do you like conceited people? If not, why not? Most likely you don’t because they are self-absorbed, and they make life revolve around them because in their world it is all about them. Here Paul is pointing out one of our biggest people problems, pride. Pride affects or we should say infects us all. Pride always does things to promote and points to self. It reveals and revels in its ego while ignoring others. Pride puffs us up till we are so full of self that there is very little room for anyone else, including God. Pride likes to dictate and dominate, as it demands its own way. Pride turns us from servants to self-specialists, where God’s Will becomes replaced by our wants, instead of Christ at the center there is conceit. Proverbs 13:10 tells us that “Arrogance leads to nothing but strife.” We become self-absorbed, arrogant and argumentative. The first cause of conflict is competing ambitions and the second cause of conflict is personal pride. When we have an ego and refuse to admit it, when we are wrong and refuse to recognize it there are bound to be quarrels. What if you could eliminate conceit, how many of our people problems would actually be solve?  Being driven by self-ambition and being self-absorbed lead to many a ruined relationship. So let me ask you how self-absorbed are you? Many of us might be tempted to answer not very, but how much room is there in your day for others. You see many of us live out our lives like we drive our vehicles, with very little room or regard for the people on the road around us. We see fellow drivers or pedestrians as irritating idiots because our focus is on how everything affects us. We act like the highway we are driving on was built specially for us, and everyone else is just getting in our way as they get on “our” highway.  Instead of communicating delight in God’s creation we communicate displeasure. When the world revolves around you there is very little room for others. Is your character one of conceit or caring? First Paul deals with what we need to stop and next what we need to start. It’s not enough just to remove things from our lives they have to be replaced with:

• Healthy Humility

Paul said “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather, in humility value others above yourselves” There is healthy humility and hurtful humility. C.S. Lewis said that true humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” Today we have trade healthy humility for that which is hurtful. This is not about spending our time putting ourselves down its about lifting others up. Humility is not the act of self-abasement it’s the act of seeing the significance in others. Putting yourself down is actually still a form of pride, because the focus is still on self. Paul is calling us to value people not devalue our person. So how do we lift others up? By treating them better than you would yourself. This is not just a radical concept; it is one that will revolutionize your relationships.  It’s the exact opposite of what our culture teaches. We live in a world that is full of people who think they are better than everybody else. We have elevated selfishness to an art form and service to an afterthought. Jesus gives us the picture of humility for He did not look down on us He came down to us. He made the focus serving not self. But today instead of giving the glory to God and recognizing others and rejoicing in His creation we chose to criticize. Paul is calling us to cut out a critical spirit, because when you’re critical you’re thinking that you’re better than other people. Why do we like to criticize and pick out the faults in other people, because it makes us feel superior. We think that we can build ourselves up by putting other people down, but the Bible actually teaches the exact opposite. If you want to decrease the conflict in your life then decrease the criticism and increase healthy humility. Treat others better than you would your-self, this is a call to be people centered not self-centered. Proverbs 29:23 reminds us that “a man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.” Who are you valuing? Conceit will always lead to conflict. How are you responding to people is it with resentment or respect, are you competing or complimenting? The next step to reducing conflict is to replace conceit with:

• Caring Consideration

Verse four says: “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” Don’t just be interested in what is going on in your life, but be interested in the lives of other people too. The Message Bible says it this way: “Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” We will never be considerate of others as long as our primary care is for self. Paul is calling us to look outside of self, to really see what is going on in the lives of those around us. Our word for scope comes from scopos meaning to watch and see, to look. It is interesting to think of all the instruments we use which have the word scope:

Baroscope an instrument showing changes in atmospheric pressure

Bioscope an Instrument for measuring time

Endoscope an instrument for showing the internal organs

Hydroscope a device to view the depths of the sea

Seismoscope an instrument to record occurrence and time of earthquakes

Telescope an instrument for viewing distant objects

Stethoscope an instrument for hearing sounds produced within the body; as, heartbeats and murmurs.

Microscope an instrument to view organisms too small to be seen by the naked eye.

All these instruments were designed to help us see and pay attention to the things in the world around us. So what is the scope of your sight, what do you see? Do you see those who need loved? Do you see those who need comforted? Are you looking out for others or are you so focused on self that you fail to see the needs of those around you? Paul is calling us to care about the lives of those around us, to pay attention to their needs. Are you being considerate or conceited?