Philippians 2
1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Paul tells the Philippians that if he means anything to them, they should be one with each other. He explains below what he means by that. It doesn’t mean that they should all agree on everything, but that they should all seek to honor God (this is the one purpose), and not just want themselves and their families to be spiritual but also others in the church as well. That is the kind of people that we should be like too.
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
4 do not {merely} look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
When Paul was in prison he couldn’t preach the gospel to the Gentiles as effectively as he might have. Further, others were taking his place, and this frustrated him. But when he examined himself, he realized that his frustration was because of selfishness and empty conceit. It was conceited of him to think that God only appointed him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. It was selfish of him to want the role of ‘preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles’ all to himself and no one else.
Paul draws from his learnings and reminds us all that one aspect of humility is to consider others as more important. This does not mean that we should think that they are more spiritual or more intelligent, but more important. In practice, what this means is that they their time is more valuable than yours, and their comfort and convenience is more valuable than yours.
The way we spend our time and money should not only be to further our personal interests but also to further the personal interests of others. In the coming verses, Paul shows how Jesus did it, and also how Paul himself did it.
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men.
This passage is very clear – Jesus emptied Himself of that which was divine and ended up not equal to God. After doing this, He was no longer fully God; rather, He was God in identity but man in capability. Most seminaries teach that Jesus was fully man and fully God while on earth. This passage refutes that. For a fuller treatment on this topic, please read my book titled ‘The Nature of Christ’.
If you think for a moment, you will see that Paul’s point about Jesus emptying Himself because He considered others more important than Himself makes no sense if Jesus added humanity without giving up any of His divine attributes.
Jesus was willing to go from God to man (i.e. from infinite to finite) to do what needed to be done. Paul tells us that we too much have the same attitude when it comes to doing what God wants us to do.
Paul himself had to do that in his current situation (he wanted to be free so that he could preach the gospel, but God allowed him to get stuck in prison. For him, it was like going from hero to zero).
Moses had to do something similar – he went from prince of Egypt to a nobody. So did Joseph (he went from being highly favored to a man in prison with no way out). So did David (he went from being the famous slayer of Goliath to a man on the run from the entire army of Israel).
If God calls you to be someone great in His kingdom, more than likely, He will first take you through a ‘hero to zero’ experience, and you have to realize that and submit to that willingly. If you grumble and complain in that situation He will put you on the shelf and choose someone else to fulfill His plan.
8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
When Jesus was fully God, he didn’t have a flesh through which He could be tempted. But when He became man, realizing that He had flesh (not the skin and muscle on our bones, but the part of us through which we are tempted) He did the only sensible thing a being with flesh must do – He humbled Himself.
How does one humble oneself? Verse 8 is a good definition of humility – to humble oneself is to obey God instead of one’s own mind. When we are tempted, the Spirit and the flesh tell us opposite things (Rom 8:3-9), and we have to choose which one to obey.
Jesus would rather die physically than obey the flesh instead of God.
Jesus tells us that if we want to be His disciples, we too must do the same thing – we must deny ourselves (that is, our flesh). If we are not denying ourselves (i.e. taking up our cross daily) then we lie if we say that we are followers of Christ.
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
If Jesus was fully God then there would be no need for God to exalt Him because, as fully God, He would already be exalted.
Note the reason why God exalted Jesus – it was because He humbled Himself and obeyed God. God will do the same to you and me too – to the extent that we humble ourselves, to that extent God will exalt us in His kingdom.
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for {His} good pleasure.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing;
15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,
16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
In the above passage, Paul tells us to apply what he just said to our own lives. When God puts us in a situation that we are not happy with, rather than get upset with people, and grumble and complain, we should realize that God’s hand is in this situation (God is at work in you), and that God is doing this so that you will be able to will and work for His good pleasure (i.e. so that you can be a better servant of God).
So then, this is how we work out our salvation – when external circumstances mess up our schedule, and when people misbehave (this will happen when you are in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation), instead of grumbling and complaining, we should recognize that God is allowing all this to happen for a purpose. His purpose is to get our attention so that we can hear what He is trying to say to us, and to make us better servants of God.
We must approach this task with fear and trembling – it is that important – and make sure that we don’t mess up things and ignore what God wants, and go our own way. This is because, if every time God tries to prune you, instead of accepting it, you grumble and complain, then God will finally leave you alone, and you will miss out the opportunity to be of great service to God.
What Paul says here is a ‘word of life’ (i.e. it is very important) and we must hold fast to it (and make it a habit). In doing so, we will appear as lights to the rest of the world, and we will prove ourselves to be blameless and innocent, and just like how (in Mark 15:39) when the centurion saw how Jesus behaved during His crucifixion he remarked the Jesus truly was the Son of God, so also, the people who see how we behave will recognize us to be children of God.
17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
18 You too, {I urge you,} rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
Paul realized that whatever God was doing in his life, it was for the benefit of Christ and His kingdom and so he rejoiced, even though God’s plan wasn’t Paul’s plan.
Paul was writing to the Philippians to communicate this very thing to them – that when God’s plan for them was different from what they wanted for themselves, they should abandon their own plan, and let God’s plan work out in their life.
19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.
20 For I have no one {else} of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.
21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.
22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child {serving} his father.
23 Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things {go} with me;
24 and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly.
Timothy was someone who understood what Paul was saying and took it to heart and didn’t seek his own interests but that of Christ – Timothy was a bond servant of Christ too. It is a great privilege to be a bond servant of Christ, putting His interests before our own.
25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;
26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
27 For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned {about you.}
29 Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard;
30 because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.
Epaphroditus was another great example that Paul mentions. He chose to serve Paul so that Paul’s life would be easier, even at his own expense and inconvenience. He was the type of person who didn’t want anyone to think of him as important, and even if he was sick, he didn’t want others to know because he didn’t want them to be concerned about him. What a guy!
By providing examples other than Jesus and himself, Paul is showing that even you and I – we too – can be like that.
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