Introduction
The Philippian church was a generous and loving church. They cared for Paul and others well.
They gave much money and service for the Lord. They were committed. Paul had told them about his sufferings and that they would suffer too. That death was coming but it is okay because you will be with the Lord when that happens.
But he tells them the best way for them to complete his joy is to be of one mind and together.
They were to love and serve one another and not seek their own good above others.
In Phil 2:2 Paul says that they to be “of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”
What we see in these next six verses is how they accomplish this aspect. What we see in these next six verses is a plan for life together as believers. This is the path of maturity in life together.
All of us have been taught from childhood to share with others. We scold our children for being stingy and not sharing.
Yet, we tend to fail at this in many areas in our lives. We tend to live somewhat selfish lives. I would be willing to bet that most everyone here lives a selfish life.
You may be thinking “wait a minute preacher, I give money to this church, I also give to the schools and other fundraisers. I give time to others, I help many people, so how am I selfish?”
Those are all great things to do and I believe that no doubt many of you do this regularly. But that is not the selfishness I am talking about.
I am talking about the selfishness of not sharing the greatest thing that has ever happened to you with as many people as possible.
That is your salvation through Jesus Christ.
How often do we give away this freely given gift that never runs out? Probably not that often and because of that we are selfish people. We should be like the lyrics of a song that repeatedly say, “Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now.”
We would shout from the rooftops if we had the cure for cancer, alzheimers, diabetes, or any other debilitating disease. Yet, we have the cure for everlasting damnation, and we hold that back.
In this we are not counting others as “more significant than ourselves.” We are thinking more highly of ourselves than others when we fail to share Christ.
To have one mind and to live in full accord, we are to give away this amazing gift we have we are to love others more. We are to live an unselfish life.
That is the title of the message today, Living the Unselfish Life.
For us to do this we need to have an others first attitude, have the mind of Christ, lay aside our desires, and have a heart for people.
Paul lays this out for us in Phil 2:3-8
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:3–8 ESV
What an amazing life the church and all of the members of it could have if we lived our lives every day like this text says. Man we could be unstoppable if we only had an…
Others First Attitude
In these two verses Paul lets us know that we need to do all things in humility and not in conceit or selfish ambition but to put others before ourselves.
We look at what can better benefit them and seek to help them above ourselves. Now, we do not neglect ourselves as many think.
Many think that Christians are to be poor and living in poverty because we are to give everything away. This is wrongheaded. Paul says to look out for not only our interests but those of others too.
That means we take care of our affairs too but what this also means is that we are not to be so consumed in our interests that we never help others. So caught up that we only look at what will benefit us always and never look at what will help another.
We willingly lay aside authority if necessary to better reach another, we lay aside work so we can better serve in the church. In other words we do not only seek the almighty dollar over everything else.
We live a life that is against what many think. “Many people–even Christians–live only to make a good impression on others or to please themselves. But self-centered living, selfish ambition, or conceit brings discord. Paul therefore stressed spiritual unity, asking the Philippians to love one another and to be one in spirit and purpose. When we work together, caring for the problems of others as if they were our problems, we demonstrate Christ’s example of putting others first, and we experience unity. Don’t be so concerned about making a good impression or meeting your own needs that you strain relationships in God’s family. Let the Spirit of God work through you to attract others to himself.” (Bruce B. Barton and Philip Wesley Comfort, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, Life Application Bible Commentary, 54.)
When we place others first we will see changes. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen when someone opens a door for another and then the person who the door was opened for tells the one who opened it to go ahead. Kindness and compassion for others goes a long way for unity and impressions.
Like the old saying, ‘No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
That is what Paul is saying here. He also tells us to…
Have the Mind of Christ
What this means in verse 5 is that we are to think and act like Jesus.
You may be thinking that you cannot do that but you can because in this verse Paul says, “have this mind among you which is YOURS in Christ Jesus.”
This mindest of putting others over our selfish ambitions is ours in Christ. We have this mind in us once we have believed in Christ.
When you begin to get caught up in your interests to the point of ignoring others and avoiding church or sharing Christ, stop and think about the mind that you have now.
You can control your mood and attitude because you are not a slave to those attitudes or moods. You are now a new creation in Christ and you now have the power of the Holy Spirit in you. You can move past selfish desires and to an others first mentality because the mind of Christ is in you.
Imagine Jesus as a grump, so negative by midday that people cross the street to avoid eye contact.
Or imagine Jesus waking in the morning and making statements like, “What a dull day. I’m sleeping in.”
If Jesus doesn’t fit these scenes, neither should you. In the morning, get up with the zest Jesus had, sure that God the Father will guide each hour. As dusk approaches, refresh yourself in the tender mercies of the Lord, and don’t let the day’s pressures make you a grump. Live your day like Jesus lived his. (Barton and Comfort, 56.)
That is the mind of Christ. He faced every day with a zeal to reach people. He willingly laid aside His comfort for others. He did not claim anything above others but served others. He wanted nothing more than to lift them up and out of the mire they were in.
That is the mind you can have through the power of the Lord when you continually focus on Him above your desires. We can be like that in our spiritual growth and maturity when we…
Lay Aside Desires
In verses 6-7 we see that Jesus emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant. He was and is God but He willingly laid aside the honor and privileges that are His and came here to this planet for us.
He came and served. He said Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He laid aside any desire that He may have had and he came down to our level like one of His creations. He gave up much as God the Son and came here. He did not have to do this but He chose to do this.
Jesus stepped out of heaven and came to earth. He came into the mire for you and me.
Charles Wesley wrote a grand hymn many years ago called “And Can It Be.”
In this hymn we find this stanza, “He left His Father’s throne above, So Free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race…” and the chorus goes, “Amazing love how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me.”
This song gives me chills every time I hear it. I think about what Christ did for me…me an ignorant foolish sin filled, hate filled, wretched man. He laid aside His glory to come and die for me. He gave all for me.
He did this of His own choosing. Look at John 10:17-18 “ I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
No one killed Jesus, but He gave His life willingly for us. He went to the cross of His own accord and died on His own accord. He said in the gospels to Peter after he cut off the Ear of Malcus that He could call for legions of angels if He wanted but the cross was His willingness for us.
We have that and because of this, we can lay aside our desires and serve others. John tells us in 1 John 3:16 “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”
Lay aside desires you have that are hindering your love for others. Stop doing things from selfish ambition and conceit and give to others or for others. Christ came to serve all humanity of which He owed nothing because they and we are against Him, but He did come and He did serve until death on the cross.
We see in His giving of Himself like this a heart for people. That is something we can have too. We can…
Have a Heart for People
Christ humbled Himself completely to the death on the cross. The shameful death. A death reserved for those who were completely wicked or doomed by the Roman government.
He bore that shame and went to it willingly because He loved you and me. He still loves us and He desires us to live a life like that for others.
Jesus did not make excuses to get out of the torture and death. He prayed for the will of God to be performed and that it was. He gave all for us. But how often do we not give anything for others because we feel entitled to something? How often do we try and make an excuse?
Often people excuse selfishness, pride, or evil by claiming their rights. They think, “I can cheat on this test; after all, I deserve to pass this class,” or “I can spend all this money on myself—I worked hard for it,” or “I can get an abortion; I have a right to control my own body.”
Obedience, submission, and sacrifice are not popular qualities for humans, and society has little respect for those who practice them.
But believers should have a different attitude, one that enables us to lay aside our rights in order to serve others. If we say we follow Christ, we must also say that we want to live as he lived. We should develop his attitude of humility as we serve, even when we are not likely to get recognition for our efforts. Jesus was willing to wait until after his death to receive his glory. Most of us want our glory right now (as expressed in 2:3). Are you selfishly clinging to your rights, or are you willing to serve?
(Barton and Comfort, 62.)
In our growth as disciples we can become great servers. We can serve in many ways and give up some of our desires because as we grow in the mind of Christ, the Holy Spirit is growing our love for others.
We can serve by giving more time, opening up our homes for meals with others, giving to the ministry more of our time, money, talents, and many other things. The ways of service are endless once we have submitted to the Lord.
But to get here we must lay aside our selfish conceit and ambition and be willing to live a life with an open hand extended to the world.
Jesus did, Peter did, John did, James did, Paul did, and many other servants of Christ have over the centuries.
We can begin Living the Unselfish Life when we allow the mind of Christ to grow in us and love others as we love ourselves. But to love others as we love ourselves we must begin to love the Lord with our heart, our soul, and our mind.
When we do this we will be excited about attending church. We will prioritize church and Bible study, not only on Wednesday and Sunday but every day, we will serve in the church, we will help others, we will give away much and receive more in glory at the end.
When we do this we will be like our savior Heb 12:2 “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
He endured that shame and punishment for you and me, I bet we can endure a little ourselves for His sake and the love of others. Amen
Conclusion
When we allow the Lord to guide us in all we do we will have an “others first attitude, the mind of Christ, lay aside personal desires, and have a heart for people.”
We look to Jesus for this ability. We look to Jesus for guidance. We look to Jesus for the strength to continue to serve when we are cussed, condemned, hated, spit on, yelled at, cancelled, or in danger of death.
We continue to give unselfishly of the amazing gift we have received. We give and give and give until we are called home.
We love others how our savior loved us.
We live like the famous inventor Samuel Morse who was once asked if he ever encountered situations where he didn’t know what to do. Morse responded, “More than once, and whenever I could not see my way clearly, I knelt down and prayed to God for light and understanding.”
Morse received many honors from his invention of the telegraph but felt undeserving: “I have made a valuable application of electricity not because I was superior to other men but solely because God, who meant it for mankind, must reveal it to someone and He was pleased to reveal it to me.”
That is living the unselfish life. He gave glory to God for the invention. He glorified God over himself. That is what Jesus did in His coming and that is what we can do for others.
Live a life that makes people look at you and think that Christians are different. That Christians are caring, loving, and giving people. That we live for others above ourselves. When we live a life of love and wisdom, there will not be fear or ignorance. Living a life of patience and humility will be a life without greed. (St. Francis of Assisi).
We can live this type of life when we surrender all of our self to Christ and allow His lordship to guide and control us. We give ourselves fully to Him and cry out “LORD USE ME FOR YOUR GLORY ALWAYS!” We give ourselves completely to Him and He will use us in mighty ways.
