Good News: The Gospel Can Keep Us from Self-Centeredness
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Philippians 2:1-4
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Have ever been on a team or worked with someone who was all about themselves? These type of people like to take the credit anytime something good is done, and assign blame when things go wrong. They cause a raucous when they are not the center of attention. They spread rumors, bask stab, and criticize all to tear down others and to ensure that their success is what is most recognized. It’s all about them. No one is going to steal their shine. They are going to ensure that their accomplishments are magnified, while they attempt to magnify others mistakes. Their goal is to divide in conquer. Divide the rest of the team, and bring the focus on themselves.
In sports, we often called these people cancers. A common word used in our culture today is the word toxic. We used these terms because their destructive behavior spreads and has an impact on the entire team. Their targets become angry, frustrated, and vengeful. And those that are witnesses are infected by their negativity. A study done by Harvard Business school revealed the impact that toxic behavior had on the workplace. The results showed that
48% decreased their work effort,
47% decreased their time at work,
38% decreased their work quality,
66% said their performance declined,
80% lost work time worrying about the incident,
63% lost time avoiding the offender, and
78% said their commitment to the organization declined.
You see this type of divisive behavior can really cripple an organization and keep them from accomplishing their goals. And take the joy away from being part of the team. The worst part is that toxic type of people are often good performers. While they might be thriving, they are choking out the productivity of the rest of the team. They are often the top sellers, the leading scorers, the most active in their churches.
Yes, the church is not exempt from those whose destructive behavior can stymie the mission of the church. There are those who are selfish, prideful, self-serving, self-focused, whose primary focus is to gain glory for themselves even while they are doing God’s work. These type of people can create strife and division in the church, keep the body from functioning the way that it should, and take the joy out of serving Jesus.
Have you ever been a cancer in your workplace, in your family, or in your church. Are you the person that nobody wants to be on a team with? Does it always have to be about you and your achievements? Sometimes people are like this, and they don’t even realize it. So I think it’s important that we take a good honest look at ourselves.
As a church we all need to work together to avoid a divisive, toxic culture. We cannot allow, pride, selfishness, or just having to have things our way steal the joy from our church. Now this isn’t easy, because our sinful hearts are naturally focused on self, but I have some good news. The Gospel can keep us from self-centeredness.
And in our text this morning, Paul is going to be making a request for the church at Philippi to fulfill his joy. As the planter of the church, Paul took great joy in seeing the growth and work going on in the Philippian church, but there was still something that was missing. There was still some things that he wanted to see that would really fill his joy cup. It seems that while there was some good things happening in the church, some of this toxic culture that was brewing inside of the church. They were living in community, but they were lacking on the unity part. There was some division caused by some big egos or insistence on personal preferences. In the final chapter of the book, Paul even calls out two women, Euodia and Syntyche, and tells them that they needed to agree in the Lord. So Paul makes this request for the church to fulfill his joy, and he begins unpacking for us what it looks like to have a church environment where everyone is focused on God and others and not on themselves.
This message is very simple, and I don’t think you are going to hear any earth shattering truth that you’ve never heard before. But What Paul talks about can really change the trajectory of the church. If pride and selfishness creep into the church, it creates division that will take our focus away from Knowing God, Growing in Love, Serving the Lord, and Engaging to World.
Transition: First, let’s look at the basis for Paul’s request.
Look at verse Philippians 2:1
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
The Basis for Paul’s Request
The Basis for Paul’s Request
Now when we use the word “IF” we are usually referring to something with subjectivity. Something that may or may not may happen or may or may not be true. But the “IF” used here in verse one is not a word of possibility, but of certainty. Paul is stating a fact that implies that the reader will agree. So for clarity, you could insert the word “since” or “Because” for if.
Now Paul is about to give some commands to the church, but before he does that, he tells them why they should be willing to comply with what he is about to say.
First, he says says Because there is encouragement in Christ. Remember, Paul was just speaking to the church about the opposition that they would face, but he also wanted to remind them of the encouragement that they could find in their relationship with Christ. That word used for encouragements is paraklesis. It means to come along side of someone to help or bring comfort in a time of disappointment. Interestingly enough the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Paracete the comforter or helper in the Scriptures. So Paul here is reminding the believers that even in the midst of trial and persecution, they have a never ending source of help, encouragement, comfort given to them by Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The next phrase any comfort from love is really a companion phrase. The word for encouragement refers to the source of comfort, while the word used in this phrase refers to the actual feeling of comfort. This word refers to the calming of a trembling heart. And Paul saying that I no you may be worried. I know you may be scared. I know the thought of the difficulties you may face might make your heart race with anxiety. But the love that Christ has for you should calm your rapidly beating hearts. Take comfort, take consolation in the fact that Jesus loves you. And if he loves you, He will always act in your best interest even in times of trouble.
The next phrase Paul cites is participation in the Spirit. We’ve become familiar with that word participation over the last few weeks. It’s again the Greek word Koinonia which means fellowship or community. Here Paul is reminding the believers that they have communion with God through the Holy Spirit. That’s something that we can’t take for granted.
Then, Paul says if you have affection and sympathy. Affection is simply a deeply felt connection that comes from one’s innermost being. And Sympathy is having a deep awareness of one’s suffering. The same word is also translated as compassion or mercy in Scripture. Again, Paul is referring the affection and sympathy that the believers have received as a result of their relationship of Christ.
So Paul’s approach is to remind the Philippians of the blessings that they share as a followers of Jesus Christ before he makes his request. They have the encouragement and comfort of Christ. They have the fellowship with God through the Spirit. Paul is going to encourage the believers to really give of themselves for the sake of Christ, but he first reminds them of everything that they gain through Christ.
So after Paul lays, this foundation, and requests that the Philippian church fulfill his joy. He begins to instruct them on how they eliminate the self-centeredness in the church that was causing division. So let’s look at these exhortations that he gave to the church.
Transition: First, Paul encourage the believers to
II. Be United
II. Be United
Philippians 2:2
complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
Paul’s joy would be filled if they were united, and he describes what that should look like. He said they needed to be of the same mind. That phrase means that they needed to be intentional about thinking a certain way. This doesn’t mean that the believers would have the same thoughts or opinions on every subject, but that they needed to have a singular focus. Which is understood to be the glory of God.
They needed to have the same love for each and every member of the church. Now this doesn’t mean that relationally all believers would be close. Some will be closer to other because of shared interests, or character traits, or experiences, and that is OK. But they needed to have an equal love for all of their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Then Paul says be in full accord and of one mind. That literally means to be one-souled. Their character, affections, and mindset should be in sync. Since they are all following Christ. Since they all are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, there should be a commonalty of purpose and passion for their lives.
Throughout this book, Paul is placing a major emphasis on the unity of the church.
If you remember last week, Paul emphasized that the Philippians needed to united as the faced opposition. Philippians 1:27
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
But what good is it for them to be united against opposition outside of the church if they are going to destroy each other from within.
As we remembered the tragic events of 9/11 2001 this week. I saw some people post about how tragic 9/11 was, but they also remember 9/12. America was united. Everyone was on the same team. We were attacked from the outside and we were all willing to stand together to face out opponents.
Fast forward to 9/11/21 where out nation is again divided down political lines, racial lines, pretty much any line you could think of. We could stand together when faced with an outside threat, only to destroy each other from within.
This is what Paul wanted the church to avoid, the needed to be united on all fronts. Being one-souled. Having a common drive of bringing glory and honor to God. Church, we may not be able to all be united in politics, we may all have different opinions on the tension points in our nation, in the church we may not be united about what songs to sing, or what color the paint and the carpet should be. Be we should always be united around the gospel of Jesus. Our number one priority should be living and advancing the gospel. We can’t let personal preferences, pride, our own ambitions or agenda keep us from being united and keeping the main thing the main thing. We may not agree on every detail, but we can still be one-souled. Of one mind and one spirit passionate about one thing - the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is what would bring Paul complete joy. Even more than being released from prison. Paul wanted to see the Philippian church united for the sake of the gospel.
Transition: Now Paul gave further instruction on how the church would be able to do this. He highlights to particular areas that would grow their unity. First they need to
Philippians 2:3
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Be Humble
Be Humble
Humility was something that was completely foreign to this culture. For a long time, the Greeks didn’t even have a word for humility because it was of such low value, and the Romans viewed humility as a detestable characteristic. The concept of being humble didn’t arise until the rise of the church. Some scholars even believe that it was Paul who coined the word for humility when describing these characteristics.
He commanded them to do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. Selfish-ambition. In some version you may see the word rivalry is just that. It’s the idea of being self-seeking and self-promoting. The person who is selfishly ambitious creates, and possibly even seeks and enjoys division. They are all about lifting up themselves even if it means that they have to step on others to get.
And that word conceit is also translated as vain glory. Literally, it means a glory that does not exist. So basically people are celebrating themselves and lifting themselves up for nothing. Every little thing that they do, they have to make sure that everyone knows about so they can get the credit and the praise.
Selfish ambition and conceit are symptoms of a pride problem. And pride can destroy the unity of any group. When one person is always trying to lift themselves up above others, it always causes. And that is magnified in the church, because not only will our pride cause us to lift ourselves up over our brothers, but it causes us to rob God of the glory due His name as well.
Paul offers the antithesis to this prideful to help the believers to avoid this attitude in the church. In humility, they were to count others more significant than themselves. The word used for count was mathematical term that meant to calculate. This emphasizes that the believers were to calculate others needs and accomplishments to be greater than their own. They were to celebrate others more than they celebrated themselves. If all the believers had this attitude, it would probe helpful in avoiding pride in the church. Proverbs 27:2
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.
Paul wanted the Philippians to get into this habit of lifting up others instead of lifting up other rather than themselves.
Transition: But not only should they be united, not only should they be humble, third, they need to be
Be Selfless
Be Selfless
Philippians 2:4
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
The command to look here means to turn one’s attention or interest towards something and to act accordingly. So what Paul is telling the believers is that they need to learn about the needs and concerns of their brothers and sisters and then act accordingly to help them in their need. We can’t just look out for our own. We must also be on the look out for the needs of others.
Have you ever had somebody sharing with you something that is going on in their life and you are kind of half way listening, but not really. Like you care, but you sort of don’t because you have some type of problem of your own to think about? Have you ever been in a position where you could help a brother or sister take care of a specific need because, but you didn’t because you wanted the money for your self, or the time for yourself, or you just didn’t feel like it? We don’t need to stress ourselves out because we can’t meet everyone’s need all the time. But when we have the means and opportunity, we need to have a selfless attitude and really take care of others. At the very least, we can pray. Not just say, “Oh I’ll pray for you.” But actually pray for them. Which taking others needs before the throne of God who can meet any need and change any situation may be the best solution in some situations. But often times, God has people share things with you so that you can be instrumental in meeting that need.
I believe the church as a whole would look very different if everyone had the attitude of looking out for others interests. We live in the “selfie” culture. Many people are so absorbed with themselves that they don’t even have the time or compassion to genuinely care about others. But in the church it should be different. We need to really be there for one another with a genuine heart of concern, and a willingness to help.
What was going to bring Paul complete joy was to see the Philippian church free of toxic culture by being united, being humble, and being selfless. Paul’s instruction to the Philippians reminds me acronym for JOY that’s been used for decades.
Jesus Others You
Jesus Others You
And here is the main thought that I want you to keep in mind this morning.
Keep J.O.Y on your mind, to keep joy in the church.
Keep J.O.Y on your mind, to keep joy in the church.
If we can keep that attitude of Jesus first. Focused on the gospel. Uniting for the sake of Christ. Then thinking of others. Preferring others above ourselves.Looking out for the needs of others. And then putting ourselves last. It doesn’t always have to go our way. People around you shouldn’t feel like they have to cater to your preferences to keep peace. And this goes for the pastor too. Everything doesn’t always have to be my way or the highway. Our church should never be centered on me just like it shouldn’t be centered on anyone else. We must remember to keep this thing focused on Jesus. If we can keep the acronym JOY as out attitude, I believe it will go a long way to avoiding strife and division and keeping joy in our church as we seek to accomplish the mission that God has given us.
When you think back to the basis of Paul’s request, what Paul is asking for is for the believers to start working out the blessings that God has given to them through the gospel. We receive encouragement from Christ, so we need to give encouragement to others. We receive the comfort of love through Christ, so we need share the comfort that comes from brotherly love to others. We have fellowship with God through the spirit. So we must allow the Spirit to bind us together for the sake of Gospel. And we are all objects of God’s extravagant affection and mercy, so we need extend that same care and mercy to others. We have been given so much through the gospel, and it if we are going to truly live the gospel, we must get over ourselves and extend those same blessings to others.
Before I close, I want to give us three things that we can do to help us to be humble, selfless, and united.
1. Reflect on your salvation
1. Reflect on your salvation
It is impossible to enter the Christian life with pride. In order to be saved we must humble ourselves and realize that we are not good enough on our own to earn our salvation. We come to the cross of Christ with absolutely nothing to offer but our lives in submission to Christ.
We can never forget that we are all sinners saved by grace. We are united with other Christians in the fact that we are severely flawed people who are in the process of being made new through Jesus. God is still working on you, so be gracious knowing that God is still working in others as well. Don’t think of yourself like you have arrived at some spiritual mountain top while you are looking down at others. We need to view ourselves as God views us, a product of God’s grace.
Before we can be humble and selfless before others, we have to be humble before God. So don’t forget where you came from. Reflect on the salvation that you undeservingly received.
2. Pray
2. Pray
Prayer is a very humbling act. When we pray, we are coming before God, casting our cares and concerns before Him, acknowledging that we need God to act on our behalf. Our pride is often the cause of our prayerlessness. We want to try to work things out on our own so we don’t pray because prayer almost feels like we aren’t doing anything. But when we pray, we are acknowledging that there is someone higher than us who has the power to make things happen.
Praying for others can help us with selflessness. If we will take the time to listen an record the requests of others and truly take time to pray for them, it is one of the most selfless acts that we can do as Christians. When we are all praying for one another it can bring unity in the church that can only be brought about by the working of the Holy Spirit.
3. Serve Others
3. Serve Others
The third thing that we can do help build humility and selflessness in our lives is to serve others. By doing acts of kindness and being willing to sacrifice for others, it can really build humility and selflessness into your life. So find some way that you can do something for someone else this week. Find a way to be a blessing to someone that needs it.
Reflect on Christ, Pray, Serve others. Three things that you can be doing this week to humble yourself, be selfless, and be united.
I believe that this message is preventative maintenance for our church, but I believe that God is preparing our church for a new season. Our same general group has been together for several years now, so I think these things are true in our church and this truly is a joyful placed to serve Jesus. But as we start to really move on making disciples, and we start seeing new people. That means new personalities to get a long with, new needs that need to be met, new people with talents. We have to be sure to keep the same spirit of joy and unity by being humble and selfless. And keep self-centered, self-ambitious, pride, and jealousy from entering our local body and choking out our joy. We know the two greatest commandments. And as Danny Goethke puts it in his song, Let’s keep it simple because it all boils down to this Love God and Love People.
If you are here this morning and you don’t know Christ. Let me encourage you in this way. You cannot get to heaven on your own. If you are trying to let your good outweigh your bad and hope that God accepts you when this life is over, I want to assure you that you can never do enough good to earn favor with God. The only way to receive salvation is to humble yourself, realize that you are a sinner in need of God’s mercy and grace and submit your life to serving and following Jesus. That is the only way.