Imitating Christ's Humility
1If 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, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Dig Deeper
When I was a young Christian I thought that everything would be perfect. I had become a member of the body of Christ comprised of what I thought were the kindest, most patient, most loving, and near-perfect people that I had ever met. It wasn’t that they had presented themselves to be such, in fact they kept telling me that they were sinners struggling to be like Jesus, but I had never, as an adult, seen any group of people really trying to live like that. It didn’t take long, however, to figure out that they were imperfect sinners. They were full of flaws and weaknesses, and could easily become downright annoying if I let it get to me. It was at those moments that I was most annoyed that I would read passages like this one and shake my head, thinking that either the first-century Christians were far more godly and spiritual than we were or Paul was calling people to a hopeless standard that even the first-century Christians couldn’t attain to. So, which is it? Are we all miserable excuses for Christians or is this an impossible standard? Or was I missing something altogether?
Paul is writing to his beloved family in Christ in Philippi and telling them what their life in Christ will look like. But how could this even be possible? What he is describing seems completely unattainable for any community of human beings. He calls them to be unified in the way they think and act. He calls for no selfishness of any kind as they humbly look at the person next to them and put their needs and opinions above their own. He can’t really expect people to live like that can he? The only answer can be to keep focused on something other than one another. When I was coaching basketball and we were aiming for a state championship, there were many long and difficult things that the players endured, including bearing with one another. The only way to truly stay in harmony and unity was to keep our eyes focused on the ultimate goal of the championship. In a much more profound way, this is what Paul is reminding the Philippians of. The only thing that can make this sort of community life even a remote possibility is to remain focused on Jesus Christ and our new life in Christ. Paul will describe the full glory of the life of Christ in the next passage, but first he will call them to the incredible unity that is demanded by the life in Christ.
Paul begins with the reason for this incredible level of unity to which he is calling them. Why should they or any Christians want to live a life that seems nearly impossible? For two reasons: The first is that we are in Christ and that is what it is like to be made in the image of Christ; the second flows from the first in that we have all of the necessary tools that we need in Christ to actually succeed as a Christian community in living this sort of life. Those who have been united with Christ in baptism by entering into his life (Rom. 6:3-4) have already experienced the love and loyalty that flows from Christ to the individual and vice-versa, so we can begin to share and experience that same love in the Christian community as a whole. We also have the Holy Spirit who actively maintains the common life of believers (2 Cor. 13:14). Actually, to deny that the Christian community can attain to the type of unity and fellowship that Paul describes in this passage is to deny the ability and power of the Spirit. Those who are united with Christ, have been comforted from his love, and built up by the fellowship of the Spirit will naturally have true tenderness and compassion develop for one another.
Further, Paul is not implying that this list is hypothetical or that he is not sure if any of these qualities are evident, he wants them to make his joy complete, not to start giving him reason for joy. The word "ei" that is translated "if" can also mean "since," which makes better sense of verse one. Paul is not questioning whether or not they have these things, they are in Christ and he has already seen and heard evidence that they have well begun living the life of Christ as a body, which has brought him great joy. Now, though, he wants them to enjoy these things in increasing measure which would, of course, bring him even more joy.
The way to deepen the life of Christ through the work of the Spirit is to be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. In other words, this unity will require that they bring their thinking, their love, their spirit and purpose in line with one another. Does this mean that unity alone will show them to be God’s people and make Paul’s joy complete? It will absolutely not. Unity alone cannot be the final aim. Gangs are often very united. The Nazis showed a great deal of unity. False religions have unity. Becoming one in mind doesn’t mean much if we are all unified in doing something that is out of line with the life of Christ. The love of Christ is the key. Imitating, experiencing, and being bound together in the love of Christ is the only thing that can accomplish the type of unity necessary to the Christian community.
This is another example in Paul’s writings that demonstrate that he is far more concerned with giving God’s people principles to live by rather than commands as though he were writing yet another rule book. The world is full of rule books telling people what they can and cannot do. The problem with rule books is that they create precisely the kind of people that God does not want. The Israelites fell into this trap as they followed God’s law and became more concerned with the law itself than with the God behind the law. Following rules does not instill anything other than a good sense of discipline in people. When people are given godly principles, it takes effort, unity, prayer, discernment, humility, love, and the Holy Spirit to live out those principles and transform them into the true body of Christ. Rules seem safer but they cannot produce the kind of people that God desires. Rules work for people who have hearts that are wicked and deceitful (Jer. 17:9), hearts that are made of stone (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26; Hos. 10:2), but they do not suffice for people that have had God’s own Spirit put in them to replace the heart of stone (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). God’s people have the Spirit indwelling within us so that are hearts are deceitful if we walk according to the Spirit. This means that as we walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh, we are capable, because of the Spirit’s power, of wisely applying godly principles to difficult areas of life. Jesus put a great deal of trust in those who have the Spirit in them, that is why he said that they could now be considered friends rather than servants (John 15:15). Think of it like this: Children who are only told what to do never grow and develop their own ability to judge situations. Children who are trusted and given governing principles learn to be wise and discerning and far more trustworthy than the immature lot who can only follow rules. What is true of children in this case is true of the Christian life as well.
Does this mean that living by godly principles rather than reading the Bible like a rule book leaves Christians to live anyway they would like? Absolutely it does not. In fact the New Testament life of Christ that is lived by following the principles of the New Testament and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is far more demanding and difficult than following the Old Testament law (or following the New Testament as though it were a new law). It is far more demanding than those who would like to remove their own minds and much of the influence of the Holy Spirit and reduce themselves to rule-following robots. Rather than removing our minds, the true life of Christ calls us to transform our minds so that we live by the principles of Christ rather than the principles of the world.
This means that Paul doesn’t lay down a few rules of commands, saying something like "never disagree with one another, but when you do, take the issues to the elders to decide amongst you. And you should always give other people the best seat in the house to show that they are more important than you." No, Paul doesn’t limit the Spirit-led hearts of the saints to a few wooden rules. He gives them godly principles and trusts them and the Holy Spirit to learn to live according to these principles of the life of Christ. The thing that we must never forget is that those same principles apply to us and guide us today every bit as much as they did Paul’s original readers.
Devotional Thought
How well do Paul’s words in this section describe your church? How well do they describe you? By being united in Christ and having the power of the Spirit in our lives, we certainly have the ability to be transformed into this type of people. It’s simply a matter of allowing the Spirit to guides our lives according to God’s will rather than our own.
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