Philippians: Portrait of a Mature Christian

Part 4

31^st May 2014

Paul gives us a mature Christian view of humility in these words:

Philippians 2v1-4
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

How do you motivate yourself to do the right thing? Paul finds his motivation for right living in being united with Christ, in [Christ's] love and in fellowship with the [Holy] Spirit. His is no cerebral, philosophical, academic, theoretical Christianity; his life is based on his experience of God.

And all he needs to make [his] joy complete is for his Christian friends to be united and humble. This leads us to ask:

• Is this a fair description of your church or mine: "like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose"?
• Do you and I "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than [ourselves]"?
• Do we, "look not only to [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others"?

If not, the best way to fix that is to focus on what Paul focussed on. We will never become better, more humble, more loving people by trying to be nicer. We will only become better people by investing in our relationship with God.

At the end of Chapter 1 of this letter, Paul said that imprisonment was a gift to him. Perhaps one of the reasons why it was a gift was that there weren't many things to distract him from God. If you're lonely, that can be emotionally difficult, but it does at least mean you've got time to pray. Perhaps one reason why Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist were such great prophets was that they spent so much time in the desert.

What Paul said next is one of the most famous passages in the Bible:

Philippians 2v5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That's a marvellous piece of writing, and I can't do it justice during this series, because we're concentrating on mature Christianity, not studying the life, death and ascension of Christ. I'll restrict myself to just a few comments:

Firstly, Paul sets us an extremely high standard: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus". Well, yes. But it isn't. At least, mine isn't. I pray. I study to improve. I draw near to God for His help. But I've got an awfully long way to go. At least I know what goal to aim for. And knowing that I fail helps to keep me humble.

Secondly, see in Paul's words how much love and admiration he had for Jesus. May God grant us the same reverence for our Lord as Paul had.

Thirdly, may we never forget that Jesus now has supreme authority over the entire universe, and that everybody will one day acknowledge Him as Lord, including those who reject Him as Saviour.

Perhaps Paul's top priority was nothing to do with himself. I think his top priority was for Jesus Christ to be glorified. Now that's something worth living for, or even dying for.